The artist Maxim Kantor: Political criticism, compassion and spirituality
On this Monday Evening of House of Compassion, Dominican Father Ignatius Berten introduces us to the art of Maxim Kantor. Maxim Kantor is a Russian painter and graphic designer, born in Moscow in 1957. Of Jewish origin, with a philosophical and historical background, he was an atheist, but discovered the Christian faith and defined himself as Catholic.
Creator in Moscow in 1983 of the Red House, gathering dissident artists, he expresses a very hard criticism of Soviet totalitarianism. After 1989, he became even more critical of liberal capitalism. At that time his works were very political, but at the same time they expressed a deep sensitivity to the daily misery experienced by people. From the 2000s, he uses religious symbols and also produces specifically Christian works, very free in expression.
In 2015, disgusted by the Russian regime, he renounced his Russian nationality, took German nationality, and came to live in France on the Ile de Ré. The tone of his paintings also changes. Among other things, they are increasingly marked by a form of anxiety about the fate of our world.
