Ivan
Sermoskin ( Jan Sermosky ) - animal painter of the early 20th century.
Ivan Sermoskin came from a family of Old Believers of
the Murmansk province in the Russian Empire. The main theme of the drawings was
animals, sometimes people, fairy-tale characters, witches, demons. In 1916 he
entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. After the revolution of 1917, this
academy was closed. With the beginning of the persecution of Old Believers, the
artist moved to Latvia. In Liepaja, he works at a bank. In Latvia, he signs his
works Jan Sermosky (in the Polish-Latvian manner) and devotes all his free time
to drawings. Created ~ 8000 drawings for 1906-1962. After the artist’s death in
1963, drawings for more than 40 years remain in the shadows.