Born in Bystra Krakowska, 1925, died in Wrocław, 1993; studied (1946–1951) at the Painting Faculty of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków under Prof Zygmunt Radnicki, Prof Jerzy Fedkowicz, Prof Henryk Gotlib and Prof Zbigniew Pronaszka; after graduation involved in the conservation works of the polychrome wall paintings in a church in Boguszyce; 1954 – received a grant from the Minister of Culture and Art; also in the same year moved to the ‘Recovered Territories’ [i.e. territories Poland regained after World War II] where he initiated the launch of the ZPAP [Polish Association of Visual Artists] branch in Zielona Góra. During this period he exhibited his work at numerous local and national exhibitions in Zielona Góra, Poznań and Warsaw. The year 1957 marked his first solo exhibition in BWA, Zielona Góra. In 1960 he returned to his hometown as a fully-fledged artist, where he became an interior designer at the “Welux” Textile Industry Works. In 1961 he co-founded the renowned artists assembly ‘Grupa Beskid’ which continued its operations for the next thirty or so years. One of his worthwhile achievements was a monumental mosaic on the wall of a weaving mill (ul. Leszczyńskiej, Bielsko-Biała) depicting the history of Bielsko-Biała. In 1980 he won the Julian Fałat Easel Award. He painted figurative, expressive compositions which reflected his emotions. He used broad synthetic splodges of colour and rough texture achieved by hastily applied paint. His work always showed nature: landscapes, people and folklore of the Beskid region. He was a magnificent portraitist, draughtsman, graphic artist and initiator of the first happenings and painting actions in Bielsko-Biała. Numerous solo exhibitions in Nowa Sól (museum), Gorzów Wielkopolski (BWA), Wrocław and Bielsko-Biała; he also participated in all of the collective exhibitions of Grupa Beskid, and many national exhibitions, including those held in Galeria Zachęta and the National Museum in Warsaw; in numerous paintings exhibitions and symposia held by the “Złote Grona” (golden grapes) group, foreign exhibitions in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Hungary, and plein-air workshops. Bieniek moved to Wrocław in 1988, after which he participated in a number of collective exhibitions held both in Wrocław and in Bielsko-Biała. In 1999 Galeria Bielska BWA organized a retrospective exhibition containing over a thousand works by the artist. To commemorate the occasion the Culture and Art Department of the City Council in Bielsko-Biała published a commemorative album devoted to Bieniek’s lifetime work.