Oil on canvas, signed lower right “Jakubiak,” inscribed and signed on the reverse.
Dimensions with frame: 52x63.5 cm (34x46.5 cm)
Lech Jakubiak (Krośniewice 1932–2019)—Polish painter and architect. At the age of two, he moved to Warsaw with his parents. During World War II, he served in the Gray Ranks and the Home Army and participated in the Warsaw Uprising. In 1958, he graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Gdańsk University of Technology. He worked as an architect until 1964, receiving, among other honors, an award from the Ministry of Construction for his participation in the design of the Corn Cleaning and Calibration Plant in Kobierzyce. He then devoted himself to painting, creating mainly oil paintings. He became a member of the Association of Polish Fine Artists. His works were exhibited at numerous shows in Poland and abroad, including at the Cassel Gallery in London (1964) and at the International Open-Air Painting Symposium in Reichenau (Austria, 1968). He was also a member of the “Gray Ranks” Association. In the 1960s, while working at a design office, he met Joanna Chmielewska. As a result of this acquaintance, he became the inspiration for the character of Lesio Kubajko—the main protagonist of the novel *Lesio*, published in 1973. Lech Jakubiak did not reveal his connection to the character until 2002, during one of his exhibitions.
