Seweryn BIESZCZAD, RUSSIAN SOLDIERS BEFORE CHAPEL

Oil, canvas, 71 x 110 cm, signed p.d.: S. Bieszczad.

Polish painter of the early 20th century, a realist (he excelled in watercolor) associated with Krosno. He was a student of the Cracow SSP, Vienna and Munich academies. He was most fond of painting views of villages and towns, rural genre scenes and gentle landscapes of the Krosno area. He combined good workshop training with realistic development of the subject matter and a great sense of color. He was born into a painter's family. He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Cracow in 1868-1876, under the direction of Władysław Łuszczkiewicz and later Jan Matejko, and participated in classes taught by Leon Dembowski and Feliks Szynalewski. Being a scholarship holder of the School of Fine Arts in Cracow, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich under A. Wagner. He also studied in Dresden as a scholarship student of the Vienna Academy. After his studies, he lived in Cracow. In 1891, on the advice of friends, he moved permanently to Krosno, where he lived for the rest of his life (except for the years 1920-1923, when he stayed in Pleszew, Poznan province). In Krosno, he was an active cultural activist, creator of an amateur theater circle and a member of art committees and the "Art" art association. He died on June 17, 1923 in Krosno.