Ferdynand Ruszczyc

Who was Ferdynand Ruszczyc?

Ferdynand Ruszczyc h. Lis was a Polish painter, printmaker, and stage designer.

Born in the village Bohdanów, 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 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.