Stepan Pisakhov was born in Arkhangelsk into a merchant family; at the same time his father was a craftsman – a jeweler and engraver.
After completing his early schooling in Arkhangelsk, Pisakhov studied in the Baron Stieglitz’ Arts College in Petersburg.
His grandmother’s brother, Grandpa Leontiy, was a professional folktale narrator, and from his early childhood the future writer lived amid the rich word-creation traditions of the Russian North.
For an artist he had received myriad impressions from his travels as a young man in Italy, France, Turkey and Egypt.
Pisakhov, along with Aleksandr Borisov and Tyko Vylka, is considered to be the founder of Russian Arctic painting, and initially his works were featured prominently in the Arkhangelsk Museum of Fine Arts.