Władysław Fusek-Forosiewicz was born in Kańczuga, Congress Poland in 1907. Trained at the Academy of Fine Art in Cracow, he later settled in Britain after serving with the Polish II Corps during the Second World War. Known for expressive landscapes and perceptive portraits, he was active in the Polish émigré art world and exhibited regularly at the Polish Social and Cultural Association (POSK) in west London.
Artist Władysław Fusek-Forosiewicz was born in Kańczuga, Congress Poland in 1907. He studied at the Academy of Fine Art in Cracow from 1925, winning the Ministry of Communication Award in 1935, including the Prize in the Figurative Section.
Following the outbreak of war in 1939, Fusek-Forosiewicz served in the Polish Army and later joined General Władysław Anders's Polish II Corps as they returned to Europe from exile in Russia. With the Anders's Army, he travelled via Italy, eventually arriving in the British Isles at the end of the war in 1946, as part of a wave of Polish soldiers arriving from Italy, Africa, Germany, and occupied Poland. General Anders encouraged his soldier-artists and Fusek-Forosiewicz was awarded two First Prizes at exhibitions organised by the British Eighth Army during the conflict. Initially arriving in Scotland, he became an active participant in Polish émigré artistic circles and more widely, with his artistic career taking shape in the early 1950s. In 1955, an exhibition of eighteen oil portraits was held at 11 Drummond Place in Edinburgh. The exhibition was warmly received, and a reviewer for The Scotsman remarked, ‘he also shows sensitivity to the personality of his sitters, and this, combined with a flair for nicely-balanced composition, gives a distinction to a number of the paintings in this exhibition’ (The Scotsman, 6 May 1955, p. 8). Among the works singled out were the portrait of Mrs Richard Fotheringham, described as the most harmonious composition; that of Miss Renata Maczek, noted for the inclusion of a mirror reflection that heightened the picture’s interest; and the portraits of Mr A. Maczek and Mrs B. Gabsewicz, both recognised for their strong characterisation.
Fusek-Forosiewicz later moved to Parham Park in West Sussex, England, after marrying Polish opera singer and, later, painter Irena Fusek-Forosiewicz, whom he met in Scotland in 1958, and was naturalised in March 1964. The Sussex countryside greatly inspired his artistic output. In September 1970, the Congress of Contemporary Polish Science and Culture in Exile hosted a major exhibition of easel paintings by nearly 60 Polish émigré artists—including the couple—at Imperial College in London and later at the Polish Social and Cultural Association (POSK) in Hammersmith. In 1975, Fusek-Forosiewicz held his first solo London exhibition at POSK, showcasing landscapes depicting the soft, varied sunlight of Sussex and scenes inspired by travels to Spain, Ghana, and Poland, alongside works that revealed the ‘sensitivity of his portraits, which are perceptive, despite a strong sense of colour’ (Marylebone Mercury, 21 February 1975, p. 13). He returned for further solo exhibitions there in 1979 and 1981.
Fusek-Forosiewicz was a significant figure in Polish émigré art exhibitions in Britain, particularly through his involvement with the Association of Polish Artists in Great Britain (APA). He was among the first recipients of the APA’s prestigious ‘Garby Prize’ for outstanding exhibitors in 1968, alongside notable émigré artists such as Marian Bohusz-Szyszko and Zygmunt Turkiewicz (Supruniuk 2023, p. 361). He regularly participated in annual APA exhibitions throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, which were often held at various Polish galleries in London, including the Grabowski Gallery, Drian Gallery, Cassel Gallery, and the Polish YMCA Club Room. In 2014, his work was included posthumously in the exhibition Pole Position: Polish Art in Britain 1939–89, drawn from a private collection belonging to collector, Matthew Bateson, at Sheffield’s Graves Gallery, highlighting his role in the Polish artistic diaspora and his contribution to British art history. His painting, Summer in a Park in Parham (1976), was praised for its expressive use of colour, capturing ‘the West Sussex countryside beneath purple expressionist skies, rendered in a vibrant style inspired by Gauguin’ (Pole Position exhibition review). Fusek-Forosiewicz's style was characterised by a lively sense of colour, sensitivity in portraiture, and expressive landscapes, informed by both his native Polish modernist training and his exposure to post-impressionist influences during his exile in Britain. Władysław Fusek-Forosiewicz died in Sussex, England on 18 June 1983. His work is not currently represented in UK public collections. Fusek-Forosiewicz is commemorated at the columbarium of St. Andrzej Bobola Church in London, alongside other Polish wartime exiles who settled in Britain after the Second World War.