TADEUSZ KANTOR – CHRONOLOGY

1915 Born on 6 April in Wielopole Skrzyńskie, a small town near Ropczyce, over 170 km from Cracow. Spends his childhood looked after by his mother, grandmother and his uncle – a Catholic priest – in a village presbytery.

1924 After his uncle’s death (1921) moves with his mother to Tarnów. Begins his education in a middle secondary school. Becomes fascinated with classical theatre, paints, plays the violin.

1934-1939 Studies painting in the Fine Arts Academy in Cracow. Mainly interested in monumental painting attends stage design classes run by Professor Karol Frycz, a friend of Gordon Craig and an expert at Chinese theatre. Towards the end of his studies joins an all-Poland group of modern painters which also includes some members of the Cracow Group i.e. Maria Jarema, Stanisław Osostowicz, Jonasz Stern, Henryk Wiciński.

1937 Founds a puppet theatre at the Academy and stages The Death of Titan giles by M. Maeterlinck. A year later, together with Wanda Baczyńska translates The Puppet Show by A. Błok. Meets Ania Płockier, a friend of Brunon Schulz

1939-1944 During the War lives in Cracow and organizes the Young Artists Group and the Underground Independent Theatre there. Stages Balladyna by J. Słowacki (1943) and The Return of Odysseus by S. Wyspiański (1944).

1945 After the War his art changes visibly and he becomes interested in the newly-created reality. Starts work as a stage designer in Cracow theatres. Stages The Unworthy and Worthy by Józef Czechowicz at the Rotunda Students’ Theatre and restages The Return of Odysseus in The Old Theatre. Prepares stage designs for T. Czyżewski’s The Death of a Faun and Le Cid by P. Corneille and organizes the exhibition of the Young Artists’ Group in Cracow.

1946 Meets Leon Schiller, an outstanding theatre director, and temporarily moves to Łódź, where Schiller managed The Polish Army Theatre. Organizes the next exhibition of the Young Artists’ Group. His theories on painting, published texts, theatre stage designs and the exhibitions he organizes give rise to an increasing number of polemics and discussions.

1947 During his six-month stay in Paris he gets acquainted with new trends in contemporary painting and shows a lively interest in surrealistic art. On his return he becomes a professor of painting in the Higher School of Fine Arts in Cracow.

1948 In Cracow he organizes a society called The Artists’ Club as well as an all-Poland exhibition of modern art, which evoked an unusually wide response and which focused mainly on Surrealism and abstract art. Takes part in exhibitions of Polish art in Prague and New York. 1949 Finds it increasingly difficult to submit himself to the requirements of “controlled art” (Social Realism) and although still painting, ceases to exhibit his work. Together with Maria Jarema stages and directs P. Neruda’s poem Let the Rail Splitter Awake at an amateur workers’ theatre. 1950 Dismissed from his position at the Higher School of Fine Arts, works as a stage designer at the Słowacki Theatre and then in The Old Theatre in Cracow (until 1961). Continues his cooperation with state theatres until 1963 and only incidentally in the later period. Embarks on his activity with the isolated group of artists in Cracow, which lasts until 1954.

1955 Together with Maria Jarema and Kazimierz Mikulski creates in Cracow an experimental Cricot 2 Theatre where he stages S.I. Witkiewicz’s play – The Cuttlefish (premiere in 1956). The formation of the Cricot 2 Theatre renders it possible to eventually realize his theoretical reflections and ideas from the occupation period. The Cricot 2 Theatre promptly becomes highly-valued in Poland and abroad. Until 1957 the theatre has its headquarters in The Artists’ House (Dom Plastyków) run by the Artists’ Association in Cracow. Participates in the exhibition of nine painters and leaves for Paris for one month.

1956 As a stage designer he transfers his formal experiments onto the official stage floors. Writes theoretical and polemical texts. Individual painting exhibition in Po Prostu Gallery in Warsaw – the first ever demonstration of Informel art in Poland. A short stay in Vienna.

1957 Becomes a co-founder of the Cracow Group 2, of which he was the President several times. Individual painting exhibition inaugurating the activity of the Krzysztofory Gallery in Cracow. Co-organizes the Second Modern Art Exhibition in Warsaw, which was the most significant demonstration of modern art in Poland since 1948. Directs K. Mikulski’s Circus with the Cricot 2 Theatre.

1958 Initiates a lively and continuous involvement with international art. Travels to Sweden and Paris. Individual exhibition at the Samlaren Gallery in Stockholm. Takes part in the exhibition ‘L’art du XXI siècle. Rendez-vous de l’avant-garde internationale’ in Charleroix, Palais des Exposition. Illustrates the first post-war edition of Witold Gombrowicz’s drama Ivona, Princess of Burgundia ( published by Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warszawa 1958). The Krzysztofory Gallery in Cracow becomes the new headquarters of the Cricot 2 Theatre (until 1980). Maria Jarema, his life-long friend, passes away in Cracow.

1959 Individual painting exhibitions at the Galerie H. Legendre in Paris and in Kunsthalle in Düsseldorf. Takes part in the international exhibition ‘Documenta 2’ in Kassel.

1960 Individual painting exhibitions at the Saidenberg Gallery in New York and at Gallery 54 in Göteborg. Participates in the thirtieth biennial of art in Venice. Commences rehearsals for the new Cricot 2 performance – In a Little Manor House by S.I. Witkiewicz.

1961 Spends one semester lecturing at the Painting Faculty at Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg. A longer stay in Germany, Sweden, Italy and France. Individual exhibitions at the Galerie H. Legendre in Paris. Prepares an adaptation of S.I. Witkiewicz’s play In a Little Manor House (premiere 14 January 1961) in Cracow and almost simultaneously the decorations and costumes for Rhinoceros by E. Ionesco (The Old Theatre). Takes part in ’15 Polish painters’ exhibition in New York.

1962 Returns to Cracow in the middle of the year. Prepares the staging and set for J. Massenet’s opera Don Quichotte. 1963 Organizes a great ‘Popular Exhibition’ at the Krzysztofory Gallery, which is one of the first ‘environnement’ projects in Poland. At the same gallery he stages S.I. Witkiewicz’s play Madman and the Nun (premiere on 8 June 1963). Creates his first Emballages.

1964 A journey to Switzerland, Germany and France. Individual painting exhibition at the Alice Pauli Gallery in Lausanne. Participates in the exhibition of Polish painting ‘Profiles IV’ in Bochum. Creates a series of paintings (Collages) with umbrellas. Writes the Emballages Manifesto. The manifestos later develop into the method and platform for all of his subsequent artistic achievements.

1965 Travels to the United States for seven months. Organizes his first Happenings ‘Cricotage’ and ‘The Demarcation Line’ in Warsaw and Cracow.

1966 An extended stay in Germany. In cooperation with German actors in Baden-Baden arranges the performance Der Schrank (The Wardrobe) based on his prior staging of St. I. Witkiewicz’s play In a Little Manor House. Performs in Munich, Heidelberg, Bochum and Essen. Individual exhibitions in Baden-Baden (Staatliche Künsthalle), Paris (Galerie de l’Université), Basel (Galerie Handschin) and in Stockholm (Galerie Pierre). Organizes Happening Le Grand Emballage in Basel. Participates in the Artists and Scientists Symposium in Puławy in Poland, where he performs Emballage - Voyageur.

1967 Presents Happening The Letter at the Foksal Gallery in Warsaw. In Łazy on the Baltic coast presents the Panoramic Sea-Happening in four parts: Sea Concert, The Jellyfish Raft, Le barbouillage erotique and The Agrarian Culture On Sand. Individual exhibitions of ‘Emballages’ in Warsaw (Foksal Gallery) and in Cracow (Krzysztofory Gallery). Participates in 9th Biennial in São Paulo, where he is granted a prize. Stages S.I. Witkiewicz’s play The Water Hen (premiere on April 28) at the Krzysztofory Gallery. Becomes a full-time professor at the Painting Faculty of the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow (until 1969).

1968 Travels to Germany, France, Yugoslavia and Italy. Participates in the exhibition and symposium ‘Prinzip Collage’ in Nuremberg, where for the purposes of film Kantor Ist Da (directed by Dietrich Mahlow) he also presents Happenings The Anatomy Lesson According to Rembrandt, A Talk with a Rhinoceros and Die Grosse Emballage. Participates in a symposium in Vela Luka and creates ‘Chair-Emballage’. At the Cracow Group exhibition at the Krzysztofory Gallery in Cracow he organizes Happening Hommage a Maria Jarema. Receives the European painting prize ‘Premio Marzotto’.

1969 The first international tournée of the Cricot 2 Theatre. The Water Hen performances shown at the Premio Roma Festival in Rome (Galeria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna), in Modena and Bologna. Dietrich Mahlow shoots the scenes for his film Säcke, Schrank und Schrim (first released in 1972) and T. Kantor prepares several different Happening activities e.g. on the Adriatic coast, at the train station, in Tito’s summer residence.

1970 Interactive exhibition ‘Multipart’ at the Foksal Gallery in Warsaw, an exhibition of painting and theatre objects at the Krzysztofory Gallery in Cracow and the ‘Multipart’ exhibition at the Alice Pauli Gallery in Lausanne. Participates in the world exhibition ‘Happening and Fluxus’ at the Kölnischer Kunstverein in Cologne and in an international exhibition ‘Galeries Pilotes’ in Lausanne and Paris. 1971 Tournée of the Cricot 2 Theatre. Performances of The Water Hen take place in Nancy (International Festival) and at Théâtre 71 in Paris. Creates his Impossible Monument, ‘The Chair’, an object-sculpture 14 metres in height at Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter in Oslo. Individual exhibitions ‘Multipart II’, ‘Conceptual Emballages’, ‘Cambriolage’ at the Foksal Gallery in Warsaw. With part of the Cricot 2 group participates in the 1st Atelier Internationale de Théâtre Experimental in Dourdan near Paris, where he presents Happenings The Laundry and The Anatomy Lesson According to Rembrandt.

1972 The Cricot 2 Theatre leaves for Edinburgh. Performances of The Water Hen at the 26th International Festival constituted the first major success of the Cricot 2 Theatre, which triggered its international acclaim. In Paris, at Théâtre 71 he stages S.I. Witkiewicz’s The Shoemakers.

1973 Stages S.I. Witkiewicz’s play Lovelies and Dowdies in Cracow (premiere on 4 May 1973 at the Krzysztofory Gallery). The Cricot 2 Theatre travels to Edinburgh with performances of Lovelies and Dowdies. Individual exhibition ‘Everything Is Hanging by a Thread’ in Warsaw (Foksal Gallery).

1974 Tournée of the Cricot 2 Theatre to Paris, Rome, Nancy, Shiraz, Essen with performances of Lovelies and Dowdies. Designs the set for Juliusz Słowacki`s Balladyna (Cracow, Bagatela Theatre). 1975 Fathers the last but one stage of the Cricot 2 Theatre: ‘The Theatre of Death’. The Dead Class has its premiere at the Krzysztofory Gallery in Cracow (15 November 1975). ‘The Human Reserve’ drawings exhibition held in Cracow (Desa Gallery). Mounts a retrospective exhibition, ‘Emballages’, at the Museum of Art in Łódź and at Kulturhuset in Stockholm.

1976 Triumphant launch of The Dead Class tour followed by enthusiastic reviews. The Cricot 2 Theatre shows The Dead Class across Poland and abroad: in Wrocław (Museum of Architecture), Edinburgh (College of Arts), Cardiff (Theatre Arena), London (Riverside Studios), Cracow (Krzysztofory Gallery) and Warsaw (Exhibition Pavilion of the Polish Architects’ Society). Individual exhibitions ‘Emballages 1960<76’ in London (Whitechapel Art Gallery) and Nuremberg (Galerie Ricard).

1977 Presentations of The Dead Class in Amsterdam (Mickery Theatre), Nuremberg (Messehaus), Erlangen (Theater in der Garage), Nancy (Festival Mondial du Théâtre), Cracow (Krzysztofory Gallery), Shiraz (University Gimnasium), Belgrad (BITEF – 11th Festival), Paris (Théâtre National de Chaillot), Lyon – Villeurbanne (Théâtre National Populaire), Lille (Théâtre Populaire des Flandres), Brussels (Halle de Schaerbeck), Ghent (Akademie des Beaux Arts) and Warsaw (Stodoła Club). Individual exhibition of drawings (1947– 1977) in Nuremberg (Galerie Ricard). Participates in the exhibition ‘Documenta 6’ in Kassel. L’Age d’Homme publishing house in Lausanne releases a volume of T.Kantor’s theatrical papers: ‘Théâtre de la Mort’ with Denis Bablet’s foreword (followed by translations to several other languages).

1978 Presentations of The Dead Class in Florence (Rondò di Bacco), Milan (Centro di Ricerca per il Teatro), Adelaide (The Space), Sydney (Sydney Opera House Recording Hall), Cracow (Krzysztofory Gallery), Zurich (Theater 11), Geneva (Théâtre Plainpalais), Caracas (IV Sesión Mundial de Teatro de las Naciones), Rome (Teatro Tenda), West Berlin (GRIPS Theater), Stuttgart (Kammertheater), Graz (Schauspielhaus) and Cracow (Rotunda Club). International jury grants T. Kantor the Rembrandt Prize of the J.W. Goethe Foundation in Basel. 1979 Presentations of The Dead Class in New York (La Mama ETC), Mexico City (Teatro El Galeón), Milan (Centro di Ricerca per il Teatro) and Stockholm (Kulturhuset). Rome`s (Palazzo delle Esposizioni) premiere of the next Cricotage Where are the Snows of Yesteryear (restaged 1982<1984 in France, Great Britain, Switzerland and Poland). Individual exhibitions of paintings in Rome (Palazzo delle Esposizioni) and Milan (Palazzo Reale). Invited with the Cricot 2 Theatre by the city of Florence, where from November 1979 he creates the performance Wielopole, Wielopole.

1980 The premiere of Wielopole, Wielopole in Florence (Atelier Cricot 2, 23 June 1980). Tours with his new performance to Edinburgh (Theatre Moray House), London (Riverside Studios), Paris (Théâtre Bouffe du Nord), Cracow (Sala Sokoła), Warsaw (Stodoła Club), Gdańsk (Auditorium Hall of the Gdańsk Shipyard). Presentations of The Dead Class in Prato near Florence at Spazio Culturale il Fabbricone. Cricoteka - the archives of the Cricot 2 Theatre, is founded in Florence (brief activity) and Cracow (in January 1980).

1981 Wielopole, Wielopole presented by the Cricot 2 Theatre in Milan (Centro di Ricerca per il Teatro), Rome (Teatro Limonaia), Florence (via Santa Maria 25 - former Cricot 2 atelier), Genoa (Teatro de la Ville), Parma (Teatro Regia), Geneva (Théâtre Plainpalais), Zurich (Theater 11), Caracas (Sala José Félix Ribas), Nuremberg (Schauspielhaus), Madrid (Teatro Maria Guerrero) and Vitoria (Teatro Gueridi). The Dead Class shown in Cracow at Sala Sokoła. Italian publishing house Ubulibri releases the script and T. Kantor`s theoretical commentaries on Wielopole, Wielopole.

1982 Presentations of Wielopole, Wielopole performance in Guanajuato (Festival Internacional Cervantino), Mexico City (Teatro Juan Ruiz Alarcón), New York (La Mama ETC), Lyon – Villeurbanne (Théâtre National Populaire) and of The Dead Class in Toga – Mura (Toga Festival 82), Tokyo (Parco Space Part 3), London (Riverside Studios). Cricotage Where Are the Snows of Yesteryear shown in Paris (Centre Georges Pompidou) and London (Riverside Studios). Kantor`s grand individual exhibition held at the Galerie de France in Paris. Edition Chêne/Hachette and Galerie de France publish the tome ‘Métamorphoses’ containing a collection of T. Kantor`s papers and essays. The long awaited book by Wiesław Borowski ‘Tadeusz Kantor’ is published in Poland and encompasses an extensive interview conducted with the artist in 1973 and 1974.

1983 The Dead Class shown in Barcelona (Teatro Poliorama), Cagliari (Teatro Pierluigi da Palestrina), Madrid (Teatro M. Guerrero), Warsaw (Stodoła Club), Cracow (Sala Sokoła), Paris (Centre Georges Pompidou) and Geneva (Théâtre Plainpalais). Wielopole, Wielopole presented in Palma de Mallorca (Sala Magna del Auditorio), Warsaw (Stodoła Club), Cracow (Sala Sokoła), Wielopole Skrzyńskie (at a local parish church) and Rzeszów (Philharmonic Hall). Where Are the Snows of Yesteryear (Cricotage) performed in Geneva (Théâtre Plainpalais). Participates in the exhibition ‘Présences Polonaises’ (Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou), which also presents the exhibition ‘Le Théâtre Cricot 2 et son avant – garde’. The eleventh volume of the series ‘Les voies de la crèation théâtrale’ edited by Denis Bablet and entirely dedicated to T. Kantor`s Theatre of Death is published by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. 1984 Performances of The Dead Class in Murcia (Teatro Romea), Las Palmas (Teatro Pérez Galdós), Seville (Sala Municipal San Hermenegildo), Los Angeles (Olympic Arts Festival). Wielopole, Wielopole shown in Stockholm (Kulturhuset), Iyväskylä (University), Helsinki (University), Paris (Théâtre de Paris), Los Angeles (Olympic Arts Festival), Buenos Aires (Teatro Municipal General San Martin), Grenoble (Maison de la Culture), Louvian-la-Neuve (Théâtre Jean Vilar) and Bologna (Teatro Duse). Where Are the Snows of Yesteryear (Cricotage) presented in Warsaw (Stodoła Club). Rehearsals for the latest performance Let the Artists Die are held on and off throughout the year. T. Kantor`s individual exhibition is held in Grenoble (Maison de la Culture).

1985 The world premiere of the new performance Let the Artists Die is held in Nuremberg (Alte Giesserei Kabelmetal) on 2 June 1985. Presentations of Let the Artists Die in Milan (Teatro dell`Arte), Avignon (Lycée Aubanel), Paris (Centre Georges Pompidou) and New York (La Mama ETC). Performances of Wielopole, Wielopole in Thessaloniki (Demetrius). Presentations of The Dead Class in Tel-Aviv (Jaffa Harbour Theatre). T. Kantor`s individual exhibition takes place in Avignon at the Festival d`Avignon.

1986 ‘L`attesa molto importante’ (Very Important Awaiting) - the Festival of the Cricot 2 Theatre in Bari (Teatro Petruzzelli), presenting The Dead Class, Wielopole, Wielopole and Let the Artists Die. Simultaneously, a symposium for over a dozen critics as well as T. Kantor`s exhibition take place at Galeria Bonomo. The Cricot 2 Theatre presents Wielopole, Wielopole in West Berlin (Theatermanufaktur) and Let the Artists Die in Warsaw (Stodoła Club), Cracow (Słowacki Theatre), Madrid (Sala Olimpia), Milan (Teatro dell`Arte), Turin (Teatro Colosseo), Lyon – Villeurbanne (Théâtre National Populaire), Grenoble (Maison de la Culture), West Berlin (Theatermanufaktur), Antwerp (De Singel) and Ferrara (Teatro Comunale di Ferrara). Symposium ‘Tadeusz Kantor`s Art’ organized at the Silesian University in Katowice (10-11 April 1986) and in Antwerp (25 October 1986). Spends one month in Milan, where he gives lectures at Civica Scuola d`Arte Drammatica Paolo Grassi and prepares a Cricotage A Wedding Ceremony in a Constructivist and Surrealist Manner with his students. Individual exhibitions held in Milan (10-27 April 1986, Galleria di Milano) and in West Berlin (31 August to 28 September, Galerie Eva Poll). 1987 The Cricot 2 Theatre presents Wielopole, Wielopole in Barcelona (Mercat de les Flors) and Santander (Parque de la Marga) and Let the Artists Die in Wrocław (Polish Theatre), Barcelona (Mercat de les Flors), Vienna (Metropol), Lille (Théâtre de la Salamandre), Bilbao (Teatro Ayala), Florence (Teatro delle Compagnia) and in Buenos Aires (Teatro Municipal General San Martin). Preparations for staging The Machine of Love and Death (Cricotage) in Milan. Premiere held on 13 June at the Spiel Räume Theatrical Festival, which accompanied the ‘Documenta 8’ exhibition in Kassel (Staatstheater), followed by presentations of the Cricotage in Milan (Teatro Litta), Reggio Emilia (Teatro Ariosto) and Palermo (Teatro Biondo). ‘Oggetti e macchine del teatro di Tadeusz Kantor’ exhibition held at Museo Internazionale delle Marionette in Palermo. Rehearsals for I Shall Never Return take place in Cracow. 1988 The world premiere of T. Kantor`s most recent performance I Shall Never Return at Piccolo Teatro Studio in Milan (23 April 1988). The Cricot 2 Theatre presents Let the Artists Die in San Marino (Teatro Nuova Dogana) and Salerno (Teatro “A”) and I Shall Never Return in West Berlin (Akademie der Künste), New York (La Mama ETC), Paris (Centre Georges Pompidou), Palma de Mallorca (Teatro Auditórium), Toulouse (Théâtre Garonne) and in Lyon – Villeurbanne (Théâtre National Populaire). T. Kantor presents the Cricotage The Machine of Love and Death in Helsinki and Vaasa. With an international group of actors, mime artists and puppeteers he prepares a Cricotage Un très courte lecon at the Institut International de la Marionette in Charleville-Mézières (16 August to 10 September 1988). T. Kantor`s latest paintings exhibition ‘Further On, Nothing’ (Cricoteka, Cracow, 5 March 1988). 1989 The Cricot 2 Theatre stages I Shall Never Return in Montpellier (Théâtre des Treize Vents), Lille (Théâtre Roger Salengro), Barcelona (Mercat de les Flors), Madrid (Teatro Albéniz), Rome (Teatro Il Vascello), Lisbon (Fundação Gulbénkian - Grande Auditorio) and in Nuremberg (Tafelhalle). The Dead Class, Wielopole, Wielopole, Let the Artists Die and I Shall Never Return presented at the festival of the Cricot 2 Theatre in Paris (May to June). An international symposium ‘Tadeusz Kantor, peintre, homme de théâtre, ses résonances à la fin du XX siècle’ at Centre Georges Pompidou (29-30 June). ‘Plus loin, rien’ (‘Further On, Nothing’) exhibition of T. Kantor`s painting held at the Galerie de France (22 June - 1 September) and an exhibition ‘Tadeusz Kantor. Le Voyage’ at Centre Georges Pompidou. Rehearsals for Today Is My Birthday commence in Cracow. 1990 The Cricot 2 Theatre presents I Shall Never Return in Cracow (The Old Theatre), Warsaw (the Stodoła Club), Tokyo (Parco Theatre) and The Dead Class in Salerno (Teatro Capitol), Bari (Teatro Petruzelli) and Reykjavik (Reykjavik Theatre). In Avignon Kantor runs a workshop for a group of young artists with whom he prepares a Cricotage 0 douce nuit. Rehearsals for Today Is My Birthday in Cracow and Toulouse. The Polish-French symposium ‘Art and Freedom’ dedicated to T. Kantor`s artistic activity in is held Cracow (9-1 1 April 1990). T. Kantor`s drawings exhibition at Galerie Poll in West Berlin. An exhibition of his drawings, paintings and theatre objects at Spicchi dell`Est Gallery in Rome (11 June – 20 July). Kantor dies on 8 December 1990 in Cracow. The artist’s funeral is held on 14 December at the Rakowicki Cemetery in Cracow. *

His last performance Today Is My Birthday (Aujourd'hui c'estmon anniversaire) completed by the Cricot 2 Theatre group has its world premiere at Théâtre Garonne in Toulouse on 10 January 1991 and at Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris on 21 January 1991.

Prepared by Jozef Chrobak, translation by Monika Kowalska, Karolina Mitka, and Andrzej Kula © Centre for the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor "Cricoteka", http://www.cricoteka.com.pl/pl/