1970
assamblage, canvas
120 x 110 cm
Estimate: €140,000 – 170,000
Record: €1,000,000
Tadeusz Kantor is considered one of the most outstanding Polish artists of the 20th century. A painter, theatre director, set designer, art theorist, and lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków.
In 1970, he organised the Multipart event at Galeria Foksal in Warsaw. For the project, he created forty identical canvases sold under special conditions: buyers were required to display the artwork in their homes and freely modify it. After one year, the altered works were to be returned to the gallery for the exhibition The Final Stage of Multipart. This Multipart is a rare exhibit on the Polish art market, as it did not take part in the original happening at Galeria Foksal. It was created as a special commission for Marek Rostworowski, an art critic and historian, who disregarded the conditions set by the artist and preserved the work in its original, untouched state. On the reverse of the canvas is a unique record of the correspondence between Rostworowski and Galeria Foksal.
Tadeusz Kantor (1915-1990) was an avant-garde artist — a painter , art theorist, set designer, director, and the author of happenings. He went down in history as one of the most important figures in Poland’s artistic life. Kantor was the founder of the Cricot 2 Theatre, where he staged some of his most celebrated productions, including The Dead Class (1975) and Wielopole, Wielopole (1980). His visionary approach to theatre, merging visual art with deeply personal narrative, left a lasting mark on the development of avant-garde theatre. Among his most important exhibitions were the Exhibition of Modern Art in Kraków (1948) and numerous international shows, including in Paris and New York. His works are held in collections such as Cricoteka in Kraków, the Museum of Art in Łódź, and the National Museum in Kraków.
