Jānis Liepiņš was a Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

n painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

 from Riga

Riga

Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...

. He studied at J Madernieks Studio in Riga

Riga

Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...

 between 1909-1910, in Kazan 1911-1913 and M Bernstein's Studio in St Petersburg 1913-1917. He was a member of the Riga Artists' Group and Professor of painting at the Art Academy of Latvia 1940-1950. During the 1920s Liepiņš was active in the left-wing press.

Liepiņš is credited with having introduces a fisherman's theme in Latvian genre painting, he also created still lifes of various subjects (tavern scenes, gamblers, peasants' life) drawing attention to the social aspects.