His first works appeared in the early 1890s on the pages of the then-popular Latvian-language magazine, Austrums (The East), when he was still a student at the Stieglitz art school.
Hans første værker dukkede op i begyndelsen af ​​1890'erne på siderne af det dengang populære lettisk-sprogede blad Austrums (Øst), da han stadig var elev på Stieglitz' kunstskole.