The sculptural portrait of Sergei Prokofiev was designed by a creative team of Soviet caricaturists “Kukryniksy”. It included the artists Mikhail Kupriyanov, Porfiri Krylov, and Nikolai Sokolov. Their imposing pseudonym was derived from the first letters of their first and last names.

The artists created caricatures of poets and writers, actors and directors, painters and sculptors. They also often portrayed musicians, including Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Kabalevsky, Aram Khachaturian, Ivan Kozlovsky, Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, David Oistrakh, Van Cliburn, and Rudolf Kehrer. The Kukryniksy received wide recognition for their poignant political caricatures. They also illustrated a number of books by such authors as Nikolay Gogol, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, Miguel de Cervantes, and Ilf and Petrov.

The poet and editor-in-chief of the “Komsomolia” magazine Alexander Zharov described the beginning of the creative career of the Kukryniksy:

The artists were agemates: Kupriyanov and Sokolov were born in 1903, and Krylov was born in 1902. All of them came from different regions: Kupriyanov was born in the town of Tetyushi in Tatarstan; Krylov — in the village of Shchelkunovo, the Tula Region; and Sokolov — in the village of Tsaritsyno. The young men met and became friends during their years at VKhUTEMAS, a Moscow art school. Kupriyanov and Sokolov studied at the department of graphic arts, while Krylov studied painting. The three of them were united by their appreciation for satirical caricatures. They published their first work in 1925.

In 1927, after nine years of living abroad, Sergei Prokofiev made his first return visit to the Soviet Union. In two months, he gave over twenty concerts in Moscow, Leningrad, Kharkov, Kiev, and Odessa.

At the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Prokofiev was met with thunderous applause. He reminisced, “As I appear the orchestra plays a flourish, then stands up and applauds. This turns into a large-scale and exceedingly long ovation on the part of both audience and orchestra. I stand for a long time, bow to all sides and really do not know what to do, sit down, but since the applause continues, again stand up, again bow and again do not know what to do… Finally, I get fed up and resolutely sit down… I was not at my most relaxed as I played but did quite well. There was only one incident: at one point in the third variation, I got in a bit of a muddle. I don’t remember exactly what happened, but in any event, it was nothing serious, and we quickly got back on an even keel again. In the end, the hall shouted its head off. I don’t think I ever got such a reception anywhere. I am called out over and over again. As an encore, I play first the ‘Gavotte’ from the ‘Classical Symphony’, then the ‘Toccata’. Both these party pieces go down well. At last, I retire to the Green Room while the orchestra plays the ‘Three Oranges Suite’. Following the tradition, the ‘March’ is repeated as an encore, and after that, I go out several times.”

The concert at the Leningrad Philharmonic was an equally resounding success. Prokofiev gave his own account of the event, “When I appeared Dranishnikov started playing the ‘Slava’ and set a colossal ovation in train, just about the same as the one at my first Moscow concert. It’s not worth describing it again, except for one amusing incident: after they had played the ‘Slava’ twice and had started it a third time, some very loud instruments came in one bar too late, and so the whole of this third rendition turned into a canon. Once started it was impossible to stop, and since they did not end together Dranishnikov had to play it a fourth time instead of three times.”

The program of Prokofiev’s concert included a suite from his ballet “Chout” (1922–1923), Piano Concerto No. 3 (1917–1920), and the “Scythian Suite” (1914). The concert was conducted by Vladimir Dranishnikov, with Prokofiev himself playing the solo part.