Porfiry Nikitich Krylov is known as a member of the Kukryniksy artistic group whose works were characterized by wit, irony, ingenuity, and simplicity of presentation. However, the artist’s solo works are no less significant. He inherited his drawing talent from his maternal grandfather who was a printmaker. Porfiry Krylov graduated from Vkhutemas — Higher Art and Technical Workshops — and completed postgraduate studies under the guidance of Pyotr Petrovich Konchalovsky. Porfiry Krylov painted portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and scenes of Soviet life. His artistic legacy consists of over a thousand paintings and drawings.
During his studies, Porfiry Krylov became friends with Mikhail Kupriyanov and Nikolai Sokolov. In the mid-1920s, the three friends organized an artistic group that existed for over 60 years. They were most famous for their numerous caricatures and cartoons dedicated to life in the Soviet Union and the country’s international relations, as well as book illustrations, and military propaganda posters of the 1940s.
While collaborating with his friends, Porfiry Krylov also worked on his own. He painted a lot en plein air. The artist’s landscapes reflect his deep understanding of nature. He paid particular attention to his native Tula region, Moscow and its environs, worked a lot in Yasnaya Polyana, Polenovo in the Tula Oblast, the Academic Dacha in the Tver Oblast, Abramtsevo, the Crimea, and the Caucasus. He also visited Italy, Bulgaria, and France.
Porfiry Krylov’s paintings are displayed in many museums throughout Russia, and the artist’s self-portrait is kept at the famous Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
“I had the great pleasure to see Krylov the painter at work and watch him create his soulful landscapes on the banks of the Oka,” the writer Fyodor Polenov, grandson of the artist Vasily Polenov, recalled in his book “Keepers of Springs”.
