Czesław Idźkiewicz

Who is Czesław Idźkiewicz?

Czesław Idźkiewicz, was a Polish landscape painter and art teacher. He was born in Różan, Poland to Piotr and Aleksandra nee Magnuszewska.

Idźkiewicz was one of six children of the local organist Piotr Idźkiewicz. He went to school in Pułtusk nearby. Between 1908 and 1912 Idźkiewicz studied drawing and painting at the School of Fine Arts in Warsaw. At the same time, he also assisted in the painting of frescoes at the Płock Cathedral. In 1912 he went to Antwerp to study at the Academie Royale de Beaux Arts and then in 1913 and 1914 he continued his studies in Kraków at the Academy of Fine Arts, as student of Józef Mehoffer and Józef Pankiewicz.

During First World War, the principal painter of the Masovian Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral in Płock – Władysław Drapiewski – was exiled and Idźkiewicz continued the work on the royal chapel there entirely on his own. He made a living as teacher of fine arts on staff at the local preparatory school and subsequently, obtained a certificate of a high-school educator between the wars. After the invasion of Poland in 1939, the entire collection of oil paintings by Idźkiewicz was stolen by the Nazis and shipped to Germany. It was never recovered; only a few of his artworks remain. He was arrested and sent to Dachau concentration camp near Munich. Idźkiewicz survived the war, and settled back in Płock. He worked as an educator until his unexpected death on February 1, 1951 at the age of 61.