Kazimierz Pacewicz was born in 1895 in Prużana, then part of the Grodno Governorate in the Russian Empire (now Belarus). A student of Józef Pankiewicz and member of the Kapist group, he became known for his luminous landscapes and expressive genre scenes. After settling in London during the Second World War, he remained active as a painter, lecturer, and supporter of the Polish émigré art community.
Artist Kazimierz Pacewicz was born on 22 November 1895 in Prużana, then part of the Grodno Governorate in the Russian Empire (now Belarus). He grew up in a cultured, patriotic household. His father, Augustyn Pacewicz, a physician, had a strong influence on his artistic and intellectual development. Pacewicz displayed remarkable artistic talent from a young age, earning recognition from the noted Polish painter Wojciech Kossak during his school years. However, his early artistic path was interrupted by the First World War. In 1918, he enlisted in the 1st Polish Corps in Russia and later joined the Polish Military Organization in Ukraine. He was wounded at the Battle of Brody, but continued his service in the Polish Army, eventually attaining the rank of captain.
After the war, Pacewicz undertook formal studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków (1921–25) under renowned artists Ignacy Pieńkowski and Józef Pankiewicz, and continued his training in the Paris branch under Pankiewicz’s guidance from 1925. He became a notable member of the Kapist group, a collective strongly influenced by French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Until 1938, he exhibited regularly in Paris, earning acclaim as a skilled colourist. His works from this period synthesised contemporary French colourism with the traditions of the Kraków school. He produced landscapes, genre scenes—both rural and interior—and vivid, dynamic compositions, such as circus scenes. His repertoire included portraits, such as Lady, London, 1957, and complex narrative works with historical themes, notably Branka, scena z niewolnikami (Branka, a Scene of Enslavement). He employed various techniques—oil, watercolour, and coloured pencil—demonstrating distinctive stylistic versatility. His pencil drawings often captured delicate and supple lines, as seen in Branka and Krajobraz z zabudową na wzgórzu (Landscape with Buildings on a Hill), while his paintings conveyed robust vitality, as in Dwa żubry (Two Bison) and Wieczór w izbie (Evening in the Izba), revealing his ability to depict both dynamic movement and contemplative stillness (Jeżewska 1998, p. 321).
During the Second World War, Pacewicz, resident in Paris at the time, volunteered briefly for military service during the German invasion of France, and is credited as a designing a medal for the Czech-Slovak Legion. After the fall of France, he escaped to England, where he settled permanently in Kensington, London. In exile, he resumed his artistic work and became active within the Polish émigré art community. In December 1943, he was elected a board member of the newly reactivated Society of Polish Artists in Great Britain (Związek Artystów Polskich w Wielkiej Brytanii), formed at the Polish Hearth Club in London under the leadership of Tadeusz Piotr Potworowski. The society aimed to support artists in wartime Poland, assist postwar cultural institutions, and foster artistic exchange with Britain. Alongside this administrative role, Pacewicz also taught art to Polish refugees and veterans, contributing to the postwar revitalisation of émigré cultural life. He gave public lectures on art at various Polish institutions in London, including the White Eagle Club, Polish YMCA, and the Veterans’ House. Among other notable figures participating in these events was fellow émigré painter, Marian Bohusz-Szyszko. In 1947, Pacewicz also joined the Academic Council of the Polish School of Painting and Applied Graphics (Polskie Studium Malarstwa i Grafiki Użytkowej), founded by Bohusz-Szyszko with the support of General Władysław Anders, head of the Polish Army in the East (the so-called Anders Army) as a continuation of the Roman School of Painting for Polish soldier-students of the Roman Academy of Fine Arts. In 1953, Pacewicz co-curated the Third Annual Exhibition of Art Students' Works in London, organised by the Union of Polish Students Abroad. Alongside fellow Pole, Feliks Topolski, he helped select works, ensuring a high standard. The show received notable attention in the émigré press and marked the debut of several young artists (Supruniuk 2015, p. 155).
In his postwar British period, Pacewicz remained deeply engaged with landscapes and genre scenes, exploring the rhythmic structures of natural topography. Works such as Pejzaż leśny z drogą and Orka illustrate this interest,in particular. He frequently employed Post-Impressionist compositional framing, as in Woltyżerka and Przed dworem. His work often embraced humour and more grotesque interpretations, as in Scena wiejska, depicting a comically exaggerated peasant brawl (Jeżewska 1998, p. 321). Notably, while in England, Pacewicz occasionally signed his works ‘Augustus Pack’, a tribute to his late father, Augustyn; this pseudonym was recognised in the entry for his naturalisation in 1960 (Gazette, 1960).
Kazimierz Pacewicz died in Penley, Wales on 15 August 1974. Although his works are not currently held in UK public collections, his legacy endures in Poland through substantial donations to national and regional museums, notably facilitated by Celina Tarnawska-Busza, who donated eighteen paintings in 1980, which were later transferred to a Polish museum in 1995 with the assistance of Łukasz Kossowski (Jeżewska 1998, p. 320). in 2014 a retrospective was held at the Museum Czestchowa, Poland.