Ferdynand Ruszczyc

Ferdynand Ruszczyc h. Lis (1870–1936) was a painter, printmaker, and stage designer from Polish noble family of Clan Lis.

Born in the village of Bohdanów (in what is now Belarus), Ruszczyc originally studied law at the University of St. Petersburg, but then switched majors and began taking painting classes at the Academy of Fine Art. He was a student of the famous Russian landscape painters Ivan Shishkin and Arkhip Kuindzhi. Ruszczyc travelled to the Crimea to paint seascapes, and later to the Baltic islands and Sweden to paint northern landscapes. He visited Berlin, where he was significantly influenced by the Symbolist painters such as Arnold Bocklin. After graduation, Ruszczyc made extensive tours of Western Europe incorporating much of the styles he came across into his own art.

Career

Together with Kazimierz Stabrowski, Xawery Dunikovski, Konrad Krzyżanowski and Karol Tichy, Ruszczyc helped develop the Warsaw School of Fine Arts, where he taught for a while. In 1907-1908 he held the chair of landscape painting at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts.

In 1908, with Józef Mehoffer, Ruszczyc organized an exhibition of Polish painting in Vienna. He then settled in Vilnius, where he devoted himself to teaching. Ruszczyc also organized cultural events, and worked as a graphic designer, poster designer and illustrator. As a costume designer, he participated in several performances of the municipal theater, and he was a member of the Committee for the Conservation of the Adam Mickiewicz monument in the city. In 1918 and 1919 he participated in the founding of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Stephan Batory University, where he was elected as the first dean.

Students & Colleagues

• Czeslaw Znamierowski (23 May 1890 – 9 August 1977), a Soviet Lithuanian painter, known for his large panoramic landscapes and love of nature. Znamierowski combined these two passion to create very notable paintings in the Soviet Union, earning a prestigious title of Honorable Artist of LSSR in 1965. A large collection of his art is located in the Lithuanian Art Museum.