 He took his graduating examination at Saint Sava National College in the national capital Bucharest in 1916.He volunteered for service in World War I from 1917 to 1918, becoming the youngest second lieutenant in the Romanian Land Forces and taking part in military operations in the Carpathians.Demobilized at Iași after the end of hostilities, he rambled across Moldavia with his friend Horia Teodoru; the two recorded their impressions in a series of drawings that was soon the subject of an exhibition.