PILICHOWSKI, LEOPOLD

PILICHOWSKI, LEOPOLD (1869–1933), Polish painter. Pilichowski left his native village of Zadzin for nearby Lodz, where he was helped by david frischmann , the Hebrew writer, who made it possible for Pilichowski to study in Munich. Later, he lived in Paris for a number of years, and in 1914 he moved to London. Pilichowski became a successful portraitist. He was filled with socialist and Zionist sentiments, and struggled to give pictorial expression to both. He painted the exploited wool dyers of Lodz, and the weary shopkeepers and artisans he met in London's Whitechapel. Many of his large pictures were crowded with pious Jews in a variety of moods and postures. His huge painting of The Opening of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1925 has been frequently reproduced. Among the Jewish personalities he portrayed were bialik , einstein , Aḥad Ha-Am , nordau , and weizmann . (Alfred Werner)