Leopold Pilichowski

Leopold Pilichowski
Pilichowski in London, England
Born	Leopold (Lejb) Pilichowski March 23, 1869 Zadzim, central Poland
Died	July 28, 1934(1934-07-28) (aged 65) London, England
Nationality	Polish
Known for	Painting and illustration
Movement	Realism

Leopold Pilichowski (March 23, 1869 – July 28, 1933) was a Polish realist painter in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, active during the final years of the foreign partitions of Poland. He was known for his commitment to social commentary and psychological depictions of Jewish themes and characters. In 1914, at the age of 45, Pilichowski emigrated to Great Britain. He served as president of the Association of Polish Jews in London. From 1926 until his death, he was also the president of the Ben Uri Art Society. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the National Museums in Kraków and Warsaw and the City Museum of Łódź. More representative work is held at the Jewish Museum of New York ("Sukkot").

Pilichowski was born in Piła near Sieradz in central Poland (some sources list the village of Zadzim close to Piła). He began his art education with painter Szmul (Samuel) Hirszenberg, his relative, in the nearby metropolitan city of Łódź. He continued art studies in Warsaw with Professor Wojciech Gerson (1886), then in Munich, at the Academy of Fine Arts, and in Paris, at the Académie Julian. While in France, he also exhibited his paintings for the first time. In 1894, he had his first solo exhibition in Łódź.