Michal Rusewicz was born in the archduchy of Wilno (Lithuania). After seven grades of school, he followed his father into the forest to work and eventually became a forest ranger. In 1943 he was sent to forced labour in Germany. After the liberation, he went to Poland and worked in the forests around the town of Znin, and after 1953 in Jerzmanice Zdroj (near Wroclaw). He has been painting since his retirement in 1973, having previously also done some art work between 1936 and 1939. He paintings are in the collections of ethnographic museums in Wroclaw and Warsaw.
Source: Bihalji-Merin & Nebojsa-Bato Tomasevic: "World Encyclopedia of Naive Art". London 1984. pp. 513-514.
