Jozef Pilsudski by Leszek Piasecki with the artist's autograph, 1985 (694)

Jozef Pilsudski by Leszek Piasecki with the artist's autograph.

Leszek Piasecki b. 1928 - 1990 - first learned to paint in Lviv - at the School of Art Industry and privately with Z. Rozwadowski and S. Kaczor-Batowski. Then, in1946-1952, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow under the direction of F. Pautsch, I. Pieńkowski, J. Holiński and J. Fedkowicz. He was friends with Jerzy Kossak, frequented his studio and sometimes made so-called "underpaintings" for his paintings. Later he lived in Katowice, and from 1974 permanently in Vienna, actively participating in the life of the Polish community there. He was a member, and in 1985-1986 president, of the "Strzecha" Union of Poles in Austria, wrote articles for the "Voice of Polonia" magazine, and cooperated with the Polish Museum in Rapperswil. He was the author of a diorama depicting the Battle of Vienna (2 x 10 m) He painted portraits, but above all his favorite battle scenes, horses, hunting. Because of this subject matter, he was sometimes called the "Kossak of Vienna." He exhibited in Warsaw's Zachęta Gallery, Krakow, Moscow, Odessa and many times in Vienna.