Polish painter representing the folkloristic and Expressionist tendency in the art of the Young Poland movement [Polish Art Nouveau], as well as the academic teacher who gave lectures at the finest Polish art academies.

Born in Delatyn on the River Prut, near Stanisławów, from 1887 to 1900 Pautsch lived and attended school in Lwów. After passing exams and serving for one year in the military, he began law studies. Soon after, Fryderyk moved to Kraków and enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts. He studied under Józef Unierzyski and Leon Wyczółkowski, then continued his studies at the Parisian Académie Julian.

Having finished his studies, he settled in Lwów, where he met Wilma (Wilhelmina) Gayer Freinn von Ehrenberg. They married on 14 July 1908 and had two children: Fryderyk (1911-1922) and Maria (1923-2008). Between 1912 and 1919, Fryderyk Pautsch was a professor of decorative painting at the Royal Academy of Art and Artisan Crafts in Wrocław. During World War I, as a subject of Emperor Franz Joseph I, he was incorporated into the army. He served as a documentalist painter. After the end of the war, the Pautsch family relocated to Poznań. There, the artist headed the School of Decorative Arts and Artistic Industry. Later he became a professor of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, where he also held the post of Rector twice. He died in Krakow and was buried at the Rakowice Cemetery.

The most prominent themes in the oeuvre of Pautsch are portraits, scenes from the life of the Hutsuls [Eastern Carpathian Highlanders] and landscapes. Among his works, we also find a substantial collection of war scenes. Another, less prevalent genre are still lifes.

Unexpectedly, the Holy Father John Paul II became the link between Fryderyk Pautsch's art and the Archdiocesan Museum of Cardinal Karol Wojtyła in Kraków. Artist's daughter, dr Maria Pautsch, gave over 400 of her father’s works, his studio equipment and several personal items to the Pope, who, through the Secretariat of State (Holy See), bestowed them on the Archdiocesan Museum in Krakow.