Ludwik Stasiak

Ludwik Stasiak (13 August 1858 in Bochnia near Kraków – 3 December 1924 in Bochnia), was a Polish painter, illustrator, writer, journalist, essayist and publisher.

After graduation from the renowned School of Fine Arts in Kraków, he traveled across Europe and studied fine arts in Vienna (August Eisenmenger) and Munich (A.W. Wagner and Alexander von Liezen-Mayer). His artistic heritage includes historical, religious, and landscape paintings, allegories, portraits, still lifes and dioramas. Ludwik Stasiak was well recognized as a popular magazine illustrator for: “Bluszcz”, “Kłosy”, “Biesida Literacka”, “Ziemia”, “Tygodnik Ilustrowany”, “Wędrowiec”, and as an author of popular historical novels and essays. Ludwik Stasiak had also founded and run his own publishing house "Stella". Stasiak along with Włodzimierz Tetmajer, Wincenty Wodzinowski, Stanisław Radziejowski and Kacper Żelechowski has been associated with the so-called "chlopomaniacy" (peasantmaniacs) artistic trend in Poland. The topics of his paintings and drawings were often associated with beauty of the Malopolska landscape, day-to-day countryside activities and folklore.