In 1921, I went to Moscow on behalf of the Tula branch of the Union of Metalworkers to continue my education. I packed my folder with drawings and watercolors, and went to the capital to enroll in the painting department of Vkhutemas.

Shortly after entering Vkhutemas somebody showed me Misha Kupriyanov, a student who was then in charge of the satire and humor section of the institute’s wall newspaper. He passed by me, or rather glided by. I remember a tall figure with a magnificent ‘artistic’ head of hair, in a greatcoat and legwraps… Having made friends with Kupriyanov, we began making cartoons not only for the wall newspaper, but also for trade union magazines. Kolya Sokolov joined us in 1923. He was a very young boy at that time — very blond and very shy. That’s how our team came into being.

I really got to know the Kukrys [Kupriyanov and Krylov] only after I achieved my greatest goal: I received permission to move to a student dormitory on Myasnitskaya Street… And then I noticed that whenever I went into the dorm room where Krylov lived with three of his colleagues, I always found him with a brush in his hand, arched over a sketchbook or easel. Even when talking to someone, he would draw something beautiful on a piece of paper: flowers, landscapes or people. There was almost always some kind of still life in the room or a backdrop made of cloth for making portraits. One would think that Krylov’s right hand had six fingers, with the sixth one being the brush.