Based on the memoirs of the artist’s friends and colleagues, on rumors and myths, on meager facts and a few documents, on the story “Reminder” by Enna Alennik, on the memoirs of art historians and artists, the biography of the Russian painter Alexander Vasilyevich Nikolaev (1897–1957) is reconstructed. He wanted to repeat the experience of Paul Gauguin, Arminius Vambery - and eventually became Usto Mumin. The brightest, happiest and creatively rich period in the artist’s life was the 1920s. It was then that works were created that became the main ones for Usto Mumin, and recognizable, “Ustomumin” for the viewer. However, they turned into problems for the artist’s life, since they did not fit into the ideology of that time. The author’s first approach to the biography of Usto Mumin was the 2014 book “A. V. Nikolaev - Usto Mumin: fate in history and culture (reconstruction of the artist’s biography).” The current edition is an independent book, which includes a large array of new material: newly discovered evidence and illustrations that have not been published before. These include the youthful poems of Usto Mumin, the legend “Obi-Rakhmat” composed by him, the very valuable testimony of Olga Bessarabova about the Voronezh period of his life and his short stay in Orenburg, the memoirs of Olga Manuilova, Galina Kozlovskaya and others, a transcript of Usto Mumin’s creative evening, where a very important performance of the artist was recorded - his analysis of his own creative path.