4 museomag 02 ‘ 2022
Maxim Kantor, Brown Spring, 2016, painting, 200x200 cm
©
maxim
kantor
THE RAPE OF EUROPE
MAXIM KANTOR ON PUTIN’S RUSSIA
(WORKS 1992-2022)
Born in Moscow in 1957, Maxim Kantor is a Russian-born
painter, draughtsman, sculptor, writer, essayist and art
historian. He holds Russian, German and Argentinian
citizenship and lives on the French Île de Ré.
As an artist, Kantor never joined any group or mo-
vement, rather promulgating his own independent
message. Already during the Soviet era, he became an
observer of Russian society and a critic of its political
system. For years, he has been working on a concept
that he himself describes as “man towards society”.
The history of his own family plays an important role
in his oeuvre. He creates series of large paintings and
drawings that are intertwined with his fictional written
work, public statements and essays.
MNHA holds several of his works, among them his
monumental Last Judgment (2017, 325x270 cm).
“A NEW FEUDALISM”
Maxim Kantor’s statement:
”This exhibition, put together in a very short time in
reaction to the war in Ukraine, brings together works
that can be described as political. In fact, any huma-
nistic art that addresses people and society inevitably
becomes political.
We live in a society that believed it had overcome war.
Nevertheless, greed and a desire to triumph over one’s
neighbour do their usual job. We thought fascism was
defeated forever, but fascism proved very resilient.
Works from the last 30 years are shown. I have long
warned of the danger, observing from year to year how
the proclaimed ideals have been denied and distorted,
and how “conditional” democracy has been replaced by