Pavel Petrovich Kozlov was born in 1926 in the village of Kochetovka, Nizhny Novgorod Region. He graduated from the Cheboksary Art College. In 1955, he started working as a painter in the Chuvash art production workshops. Between 1963 and 1965, he taught at the Cheboksary Art College.

The artist’s works include such paintings as “Lenochka”, “Portrait of the Daughter”, “Mobile Stall”, “Spring in the Village”, “Father and Mother”, “Red Summer”, as well as a series of paintings “Beekeepers”, a series of still lifes “Honey”, a series of landscapes “Hot Spring”, “Sura”, and a triptych “My Village”.

Yury Viktorov wrote the following about the artist,

The name of Pavel Petrovich Kozlov is associated with the activities of the creative artists’ union called “Countryside Dawns”. In summer, the members went out to collective farms in Chuvashia and there for several weeks painted portraits of veterans and shock workers, depicted how locals worked in the fields and spent their free time, and gave lectures on fine arts. Their activities led to the establishment of national art galleries, which regularly accepted works of Chuvash artists.

Pavel Kozlov had his first ideas for the work “Mobile Stall” when he visited Cheboksary: in the 1950s, there was a bazaar on Nizhegorodskaya Street. Lively sellers traded craftwork, felt boots, honey, mushrooms, and fish from the Volga right from the improvised stalls in horse-drawn carriages. Impressed by the customers’ excitement, the artist made some sketches right at the scene and later developed the final idea.

Preparing for the regional exhibition “The Big Volga” in 1960, the artists settled in the Morgaushsky district (the villages of Molgachkasy and Orinino) for almost a year. Despite the presence of shops, a mobile stall was a frequent guest in the villages and inspired the artist’s idea for the painting. Mobile stalls sold groceries, shoes, fabrics, and other manufactured goods.