Ludwik Stasiak

Ludwik Józef Stasiak (13 August 1858 – 3 December 1924) was a Polish painter, cartoonist, journalist, art historian and publisher. He worked in a wide variety of genres and provided illustrations for magazines such as (Ivy), (Ears) and Tygodnik Illustrowany. He was also the author of some popular historical novels.

Biography He was born in Bochnia to a middle-class family and his father worked in the Bochnia Salt Mine. When he was of age, he was sent to Kraków to attend a gymnasium. After graduating in 1879, he was undecided about his future, simultaneously studying philosophy at the Jagellonian University and painting at the Academy of Fine Arts.

After two years, he decided to devote himself entirely to art. Izydor Jabłoński, Władysław Łuszczkiewicz, Florian Cynk, Leopold Löffler and Jan Matejko were among his teachers. During this time, he received several awards from the Kraków Society of Friends of Fine Arts. In 1886, he continued his studies in Vienna under August Eisenmenger and was later in Munich, where he studied with Alexander von Wagner and Alexander von Liezen-Mayer.

After returning home, he became a regular exhibitor with the Kraków Society, showing 142 works in all. He also had exhibits at the Zachęta. His first solo exhibit was in 1893. Two years later, after travelling in Austria and Germany, with a brief stay in Warsaw, he returned to Bochnia and opened a studio which became a gathering point for artists of the Young Poland movement.

Selected novels Brandenburg: kraina słowiańskich mogił (Brandenburg, a Land of Slavic Graves), A. A. Paryski, 1914 W Zapadłym szybie (In the Sunken Glass), , 1908 Full text @ Google Books Krwawe ręce (Bloody Hands), Księgarnia Maniszewskiego i Meinharta, 1907 Rycerze śpiący w Tatrach (Knights Asleep in the Tatra Mountains), Gebethner, 1907 Full text of Vol.1 @ Google Books