Painter and teacher, born in Tomaszo´w, Poland, the son of the painter Wacław Ruszkowski. Studied at Cracow Academy of Fine Arts, 1924–9, after showing very early talent, then Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, 1930–2, in the latter part of the 1930s working in France where he knew the English painter Matthew Smith and came under the influence of Cézanne. Moved with the Polish Army to Scotland during World War II, in the mid-1940s settling in north London. Showed widely there and in the provinces, having his first one-man show at Roland, Browse and Delbanco in 1948. There was a retrospective at Leeds City Art Gallery, which holds his work, in 1966. Despite lean times Ruszkowski had several good patrons, such as Tom Laughton, the actor Charles Laughton’s brother, and these encouraged him to travel on the continent.