1940
Born in Bordeaux, France. The entire family is interned at Tours, escapes and ends the war in refugee camps in Switzerland. The family returns to Metz where it lived previously. In 1957 enters the Municipal School for Applied Art.
1966
Graduates from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris (atelier Roger Chastel). Is invited by Chastel to participate in Grands et jeunes d’aujourd’hui at the Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris
1967
Jacques Lepage invites him for the first of several times to the Fifth Visual Arts Festival of Nice and Antibes.
1968
Included in Art psychédélique, Zunini Gallery, Paris
1969
The painter Jacques Poli, a longtime friend, invites him to the Distances exhibition at the A.R.C., Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris. Included for the first time in the Salon de mai, Paris and Belgrade
1970
Marc Gaillard includes him in the catalog for the Plastiques et art contemporain exhibition at the Parc des expositions, Porte de Versailles, Paris. Jacques Lepage invites him to Rencontres in Limoges. Viallat invites him to 100 artistes dans la ville de Montpellier.
1971
Denys Chevalier invites him to his first international exhibition, Art Off Limits, Montreal and Québec. E.Roditi writes, Michel Kanter à Rebours, in l’Arche #176.
1972
Viallat invites him to Impact II at the Céret Museum. First of several inclusions in the Salon of Young Sculpture. First solo exhibition, organized by Lalanne, Municipal Museum, Le Mans. In an article by Pierre Faveton, Place aux plastiques in Connaissance des arts #259, two works are reproduced : Oreiller jaune et Edredon noir.
1973
Denys Chevalier again invites him to participate in an international exhibition, Modern French Sculpture, sponsored by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Oreiller, trans-faire de D.C. is reproduced on the cover of the catalog.
1974
Solo exhibition at the Jacomo-Santiveri Gallery who arranges his participation in the First Salon of Contemporary Art, Paris. Included in the L’homme et son empreinte exhibition at the Château Ste Susanne (Mayenne), the Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris and Maison de la culture, Bourges. His only work in video, Trans-faire de G.B., danseuse (8 minutes) is included in Art vidéo et confrontation, first video exhibition organized at A.R.C. Museum by Susanne Pagé and Dany Bloch. The show travels to the Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels. First print for the Centre culturel de Villeparisis
1975
Sièges-poèmes (Seat Poems) at the Maison de la culture de Creteil, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada.
1976
Again mentioned by Roditi in an article, Permanence de l’art, in l’Arche. One hour radio interview on the Pont des arts show with Michel Chapuis on France Culture. Executes a painted polyester bas-relief (destroyed 1986), commissioned by the French Ministry of Education for an elementary school in a suburb of Metz. Included in Courant d’art at the Parc de Dreux and in Confrontations, Metz.
1977
Included in 10 sculpteurs contemporains, at the Maison de la culture, Paris-Orly; in Regard 77 at the Théatre de Caen and the Festival d’art contemporain, Montrouge.
1979
Purchase of the sculpture 16 colonnes by the Centre national d’art contemporain and of the sculpture 25 colonnes by the Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris.
1980
While on visit to New York with his family, decides to stay. Teaches at the City University of New York and begins his series of works about the New York City and its architecture.
1982
Executes a commissioned work in cast stone (installed 1983) at the Centre hospitalier of Besançon.
1983
Amaury Taitinger opens a gallery on Madison Avenue and introduces his work to the American public with a one-man show.
1985
The gallery of the Maison Française of Columbia University shows his new work on the theme of New York City, particularly the Cast Iron Columns.
1986
The Ray Kerr Gallery begins to exhibit his work regularly, including with a one-person show.
1988
The Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, North Carolina includes a large drawing in its Art on Paper exhibition.
1989
One-person exhibition, Corrosive Columns, at the Keeser/Boboth Gallery, Hamburg, Germany, which also includes him in the Frankfurt Art Fair, the FIAC in Paris and the Chicago Art Fair. Included in the 15 années de recompenses at the Montrouge Salon, near Paris (for his 1977 sculpture prize, awarded by Pierre Restany and César). Exhibits several sculptures at the Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York as part of the Architecture as Abstraction exhibition with a catalog essay by Margot Farrington.
1991
The Broadway/Franklin series is shown at the Yeshiva University Law School gallery with an essay by Ross Borden. Beginning of a long period of cooperation with the poets Arrabal, Gavrosky, Ivry, Miyares and Sicard. Creates artists books, drawings and silkscreen prints.
1992
One-person exhibition, with catalog, at the Pyramide Pernod, near Paris. Article in Cimaise #221 by Claude Bouyeure, La fantastique matière corrosive de la sculpture de Kanter. Included in In The Tradition, Part 2, Shapolsky Gallery, New York.
1993
One-person exhibition at the Berman/Daferner Gallery, New York. The Snite Museum of the University of Notre Dame, acquires Corrosive Column, Base, a cast iron bas-relief.
1995
The French National Library acquires the artists’ book Corrosive Concept, with an essay by Fernando Arrabal. The Musée les abbatoirs, Toulouse (France), acquires N.Y. at Night, a linocut.
1997
Oreiller Jaune is included in L’empreinte, at the Musée National d’art moderne, Pompidou Center, Paris. The Atelier in Pignans (Var, France) exhibits many of his sculptures. Included in Three Painters, One Sculptor, Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York.
1999
Included in the Visual Artists Salute Harvey Lichtenstein exhibition at the Feigen Gallery, New York. Portraits, drawings and silkscreens, are shown at the Espace Accatone, Paris.
2000
The Johnson Museum of Fine Arts, Cornell University, Ithica, NY acquires Self-Portrait, ink and rust on paper/canvas.
2004
Beginning work on the series Timbres.
2005
Included in Visible in The Invisible at the Shapolsky, Gallery, New York.
