Rzewuski, John Rzewuski, Janusz Rzewuski, portraits and figures, landscapes and cityscapes, realistic oil painter, toronto, Zakopane, Ward Gallery, Bridgenorth, Warsaw, Royal Castle Warsaw, Chopin painting, Toronto library exhibitions, north york visual artists, Rzeszow, Lazienki Park Warsaw, people paintings, Moscow people, India people, Lima, pow-wow, fine artist, commissions, affordable, portrait commissions, photo to painting, Canadian, Ontario, Old Town Warsaw, Uxbridge

Biography

John (Janusz) Rzewuski was born and raised in Zakopane, Poland - a town renowned for the beauty of the surrounding Tatra Mountains. Later he studied economics in Warsaw. After graduation, he moved to Vienna, Austria where he met his wife Gerda. Together they immigrated to Canada in 1966.

John is now retired after a 40-year career with Bata, a well-known international footwear manufacturing/retailing company with its head office in Canada. In his professional capacity as a member of Bata’s International IT group, he traveled continually throughout the world and lived in Paris for 4 years. John speaks 5 languages: Polish, English, Spanish, French and German and has basic knowledge of Russian.

In his "artistic" life, John has always pursued creative activity starting with classical piano which he studied for many years. Later he focused on photography, including dark-room work in colour and black & white. He won a number of awards in the Don Mills Camera Club and an award in a Toronto Star competition.

John’s interest in painting was rekindled in 2004 when he began taking courses at the Overland School in Toronto and lessons from Vladimir Ribatchok, the established Russian artist.

John often develops creative ideas for his work during his travels. He also likes to visit museums, art galleries and exhibitions to further his education. He paints only in oil, and his main interest is the very challenging area of figurative painting, particularly scenes with people (sometimes many) in a street scene or engaged in some type of activity. He conveys the interaction between people and captures their personalities and facial expressions. John is in a constant search for his perfect model - someone who can tell a story without words. Many subjects in his paintings are based upon his personal photographs taken in different parts of the world. He and his wife have one daughter, Caroline, and 4 grandchildren and his family members frequently appear in his work.

Collectors in Canada, Poland, Austria, the USA and Peru own paintings by John. He also has created a number of commissioned portraits.

For his artistic style, he finds inspiration in the paintings of artists such as Sorolla, Sargent and a number of Russian and Polish painters.

During the last 7 years, John has staged 9 exhibitions at various branches of the Toronto Public Library. His paintings have also been displayed at the Ward Street Gallery in Bridgenorth in the summers of 2009 and 2010, as well as at the Quarry Golf Club in Ennismore in Nov. 2010. He is a member of North York Visual Artists.