Leszek PIASECKI (1928-1990), Borderland Township

oil, canvas; 80 x 120 cm;
Signed l. d.: Leszek Piasecki

Leszek Piasecki honed his painting technique in the private studios of Stanisław Kaczor-Batowski and Zygmunt Rozwadowski. After the war, he settled in Katowice and continued his education there at the Higher School of Arts, and from 1951 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, where he studied in the studios of Fryderyk Pautsch, Ignacy Pienkowski, Jerzy Fedkowicz, among others. During his stay in Krakow he met Jerzy Kossak, to whose studio - the famous Kossakowka - he was often invited. In 1974, he and his family moved to Vienna, where he was active in the Polish and artistic community. He was also president of the "Strzech" association. He undertook efforts to establish a Polish Museum in Vienna.
He maintained lively contacts with the Polish artistic and scientific community. His paintings were exhibited in Warsaw's Zachęta, Krakow, Moscow and Odesa. The artist was also a conservator of works of art from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Leszek Piasecki was primarily a painter of historical battle scenes.
The offered canvas goes beyond the framework of the artist's favorite subject matter. The genre scene is set in the eastern borderlands of the former Republic of Poland. It shows the scenery of a small town, through which - along narrow streets between stalls - two speeding Cossack carts are speeding. The dynamics of the composition is similar to battle scenes painted by Leszek Piasecki, but in character it brings to mind paintings by Józef Brandt.