Ivan Yizhakevych is an outstanding Ukrainian painter, graphic artist, iconographer, and master of illustration, whose creative work became a whole era in national art.

A native of the Cherkasy region, he trained at the icon-painting workshop of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, studied and worked at the Kyiv Drawing School of Mykola Murashko, and later at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts under the mentorship of Arkhyp Kuindzhi and Illya Ripyn.

The master's creative legacy is staggering: over 20,000 paintings and illustrations, which are now preserved in many museums across Ukraine. He worked in various styles, genres, and subjects: easel painting, illustration, iconography, church murals and fresco restoration, historical canvases, portraits, and genre scenes.

He illustrated the works of Taras Shevchenko, Lesya Ukrainka, Ivan Franko, Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi, Kvitka-Osnovyanenko, and others. Ivan Yizhakevych is rightfully considered one of the founders of Ukrainian book graphics. For Shevchenko's works alone, the artist created around 200 illustrations. The master began his final painting a week before his death, which befell him the day after his 98th birthday.