Maria STANGRET-KANTOR (1929 - 2020), Composition
oil and acrylic on canvas
100 x 70 cm
Sign. p.d. M.Stangret
Maria STANGRET-KANTOR (1929 - 2020)- Polish painter, member of Grupa Krakowska II, wife of Tadeusz Kantor. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow from 1955 to 1958 under the direction of Jan Świderski. Since 1956, she was a member of the Cracow Group II. From 1957 she worked with the Cricot 2 theater, and in 1961 she became Tadeusz Kantor's wife. Together with her husband, they built the House of Creativity of Tadeusz Kantor and Maria Stangret-Kantor in Hucisko, which from the beginning was to be a museum dedicated to the works of both artists. It was planned according to Tadeusz Kantor's original idea, who also supervised its construction. After her husband's death in 1994, she established the Tadeusz Kantor Foundation. She is the author of the novel "Diary of a Grandfather" (2002), and the volume of memoirs "Painting the Thresholds: Maria Stangret-Kantor on Her Life and Work" (transcribed and edited by Lech Stangret, 2016). During her college years, she painted in the informel style, describing her works as "gestural paintings." Influenced by Kantor, she turned to abstract art, developing her inspiration during trips to France and the US. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, she moved to a style of minimalist shapes and geometric forms. Her works can be found at the Museum of Art in Lodz, the National Museum in Cracow, the National Museum in Wroclaw, the Foksal Gallery in Warsaw and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, among others.
