(Wielopole 1915–1990 Krakow)
Hamburg, 1961, signed Kantor, signed on the reverse T. Kantor VI. 1961 Hamburg, on the reverse a fragment of an old typewritten label (illegible), oil on canvas, 81 x 100 cm, strip frame

Provenance:
Galerie H. Le Gendre, Paris (label on the reverse)
Marc Mara Spiegel Collection, Rome, until 1980
T. Spalvieri Collection, Rome and thence by inheritance
Private Collection, Italy

Exhibited:
Paris, solo exhibition, Galerie H. Le Gendre, 1961

The work of Tadeusz Kantor is beyond simple classification.
Born in Poland in 1915, Kantor studied art and stage design at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts. He was a painter, set designer, theatre director and founder of the vanguard theatre group Cricot 2, whose legacy still lingers to this day.
Inspired by Constructivism, Dada, Art Informel and Surrealism, Kantor is one of the most famous representatives of Polish post-war avant-garde and known worldwide for his revolutionary theatrical performances. During the war and the Nazi occupation he was also active as a writer.
In 1947, Kantor went to Paris for the first time and was greatly interested in the work of the French abstract artists. From the late 1950s and early 1960s Kantor held several exhibitions: in Paris with Galerie H. Le Gendre, in Düsseldorf at the Kunsthalle, in Kassel at the second edition of documenta (II. documenta), in Gothenburg, in New York and in Venice during the 1960 Biennale.
The present painting comes from the collection of Marc Mara Spiegel, a fascinating figure of American philanthropy with Russian origins, who became a follower and enthusiastic collector of Kantor’s work after meeting him in Paris.