The Soviet artist Porfiry Krylov became world-famous as a member of the creative collective “Kukryniksy” and their political posters and anti-war cartoons. But Krylov was most passionate about painting his family members: two wives, children, grandchildren.
The artist’s father, Nikita Zakharovich Krylov, appears in many of his son’s works. Members of his family recalled that he loved books very much and could recite “Eugene Onegin” in its entirety by heart. Nikita Krylov married Elizaveta Dmitrievna Polosatova, the daughter of a hereditary Tula gunsmith. Six children were born in the Krylov family, and Porfiry was the eldest.
In 1913, the family was
struck by great grief, Nikita Zakharovich buried his wife, daughter and two
sons — all of whom died of scarlet fever. In order to somehow support his
eldest son Porfiry who was very fond of drawing, Nikita Krylov presented the
boy with his first oil paints. The artist remembered this gift for the rest of
his life and later wrote about it in “The Three of Us” — a book of memoirs of
the Kukryniksy artistic group:
