Maria Stangret-Kantor
Maria Stangret-Kantor (born July 27, 1929, in Strzelce Wielkie, died May 15, 2020, in Warsaw). A Polish visual artist specializing in painting, drawing, and broadly understood spatial art. Between 1955 and 1958, she studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. In 1957, she began collaborating with Tadeusz Kantor, participating in the performances and happenings of the Cricot 2 Theatre. She was a member of the "Krakow Group" Artistic Association. Stangret's work was characterized by gestural painting, drawing on the artistic explorations of the informel style. She took part in numerous national and international exhibitions. Her paintings are part of many private and museum collections, including: the National Museum in Krakow, the National Museum in Wroclaw, the Regional Museum in Koszalin, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Radom, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.
The artist combined classical painting techniques with experimental methods, exploring the boundaries between various fields of art. Maria Stangret-Kantor's work, merging painting and performative activities, is deeply rooted in expressionism and informel. Through her collaboration with Tadeusz Kantor as part of Cricot 2 Theatre, she infused her paintings with gestures and emotional intensity linked to her artistic experiences in theatre. Her painting was dominated by freedom of form, dynamic brushstrokes, and the search for new means of expression that fully conveyed her subjective experiences and relationships with space.
Selected solo exhibitions:
2023 Maria Stangret, Playing places, Cricoteca, Krakow
2022 Maria Stangret, Przekreślić Wszystko, Foksal Gallery, Warsaw
2013 Maria Stangret-Kantor, Collages New York 1965, Szydłowski Gallery, Warsaw
2011 Paintings, Szydłowski Gallery, Warsaw
2010 MARIA STANGRET, HOMMAGE A SIMONE WEIL, Szydłowski Gallery, Warsaw
2009 Maria Stangret-Kantor, Anus Mundi. Hommage à Wiesław Kielar, Szydłowski Gallery, Warsaw
2008 Hommage à Simone Weil, Starmach Gallery, Kraków
2007 Hommage à Danił Lider, Foksal Gallery, Warsaw
2005 Hommage À Danił Lider, Starmach Gallery, Kraków
2004 ...Cards Written with Gesture..., Art Gallery Wozownia, Toruń
2002 Foksal Gallery, Warsaw
1997 Contemporary Art Gallery Zachęta, Warsaw
1993 Maria Stangret, Koji Kamoji, Haiku Rain, Biblioteka Gallery, Legionowo (curator: Stefan Szydłowski)
1993 Informel 1959-1960, Starmach Gallery, Kraków
1982 Galerie de France, Paris
1975 Krzysztofory Gallery, Kraków
1974 Foksal Gallery, Warsaw
1970 Krzysztofory Gallery, Kraków
Selected group exhibitions:
2014 À propos painting: W. Fangor, K. Kamoji, S. Krygier, W. Strzemiński, M. Stangret-Kantor, T. Tatarczyk, Szydłowski Gallery, Warsaw
2009 Anus Mundi. Hommage à Wiesław Kielar, Szydłowski Gallery, Warsaw
2008 Hommage à Simone Weil, Gallery 86, Łódź
2000 Women of Modernity, Ego Gallery, Poznań
1997 Express Polonia, Mucsarnok, Budapest
1994 Grupa Krakowska, Zachęta Gallery, Warsaw
1987 Exhibition of the Kraków Group, Krzysztofory Gallery, Kraków
1985 Dialog, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
1985 Collection of the Kraków Group, Krzysztofory Gallery, Kraków
1983 Presences Polonaises, Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris
1978 Exhibition of the Cricot 2 Theatre Painters, Palazzo delle Mostre, Rome; Palazzo Reale, Milan
1977 Exhibition of the Kraków Group, Krzysztofory Gallery, Kraków
1972 Atelier 72, Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh
1970 III International Salon of Pilot Galleries, Lausanne; Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris
1968 Free Polish Art, Sveagalleriet, Stockholm