Recently, a book was published in the United States, which claims that the Great Depression in 1929 was caused by the USSR, which flooded this country with counterfeit dollars. The Bolsheviks allegedly created a matrix of a 100-dollar bill, unique in perfection. Its author is called the artist Evgeny Zotov, the son of the famous Russian artist Grigory Myasoedov …
Ivan Myasoedov (later he changed his name to Evgeny) studied at the Academy of Arts, underwent an internship in Western Europe. During the Civil War, he was in the army of Denikin. He emigrated to Europe in 1921, where he worked a lot as a painter. He was married to an Italian circus actress and had two children. The Liechtenstein Museum contains more than 3 thousand of his works, and hundreds of others are in private collections.
Strongman in the arena
In his youth, the future artist posed for a photographer in the nude, covering the causal spot with a grape leaf. These photographs of the handsome young man were distributed in illegal ways, arousing the keen interest of female students, laundresses and milliners. When the heads of the Academy of Arts recognized in the hero of the photographs a novice artist, the son of the famous Myasoedov, they wanted to expel him for pornography, but thanks to the intercession of influential artists, he was sent to a foreign internship. And there a remarkable incident happened.
There was a circus show in the Roman Colosseum. The strongmen bent horseshoes and tore chains, delighting the audience. At the end, the master of ceremonies turned to them with a proposal to lift weights and barbells, promising all today's gathering to those who will be able to do it. The stands were quiet. And suddenly there was an exclamation: "I'm ready!" A handsome young guy of athletic build descended to the arena. Taking off his jacket, he easily lifted heavy weights, rolled an iron ball on his back. This was the Russian artist Ivan Myasoedov.
Soon he received a message that the famous father was dying, the young painter had to return to his homeland. There was a difficult relationship between father and son. The boy was born in 1881 from the artist Ksenia Ivanova. But Grigory Myasoyedov told her to call herself a maid-nurse, so that Vanya didn't have a mother. For many years he considered himself an orphan, but his parents were still alive! And only at the time of the funeral of the "wet nurse" the young man found out that his own mother was in the coffin. He could never forgive his father for what happened. In the last months of the famous itinerant's life, his son lived on the same estate near Poltava, where his father was dying, but did not approach him and did not communicate. And at some point he took up a pencil and began to draw a portrait of the dying man, emphasizing the grimaces of his sick father. After the death of Myasoedov, Ivan sold his canvases and the archive for a song. And he and his wife Malvina began to live on a grand scale, arranging orgies.
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Counterfeit money is the path to freedom
The October Revolution abruptly changed the life of the young Myasoyedov. He fought in the ranks of the White Guards, then fled abroad. There, with his wife, he led a rather prosperous life, which markedly differed from the majority of emigrants who were in poverty without work and their own homes. The source of the strange wealth was unexpectedly revealed: Malvina Vernichi was arrested while trying to sell counterfeit money. In the course of the investigation, it turned out that the artist Myasoedov realized his abilities in fabricating cash. The court sentenced him to three years in prison. But in prison, Ivan took up painting the church with frescoes, in which he succeeded a lot, and achieved early release. It took place in Germany during the Nazi dictatorship.
When Himmler learned about the talent of the Russian painter, he invited him to make fake English pounds. Accurate clichés of 50 and 100 pound notes were developed. The money fabricated with their help was thrown into the British Isles in large batches in order to undermine the economy of a country hostile to the Nazis. Myasoedov at some point realized that he was becoming a participant in dirty politics. He secretly prepared forged passports of Czechoslovak citizens for himself and his wife. With their help, he disappeared on the territory of the small principality of Liechtenstein, which maintained neutrality. In this country he lived until the end of his life, becoming a close friend of the ruling prince Franz Joseph II and the patron of the arts Baron von Falz-Fein. There Ivan created many canvases in different genres, fully realizing his natural talent. He lived under the name Evgeny Zotov. There was a casewhen his fake passport caught the attention of the police. Then he had to leave for Argentina for a while.
In 1923, renovations were carried out on the former Myasoyedov estate in Poltava. Workers found a hole in the basement, where equipment for making counterfeit American dollars turned out to be. The author of the found clichés was already living in Berlin then. The security officers quickly figured out how to use the find. The search report did not mention him. But after a while, a huge number of counterfeit banknotes appeared in the United States.
Truly, talent will always make its way!
Magazine: Mysteries of History №36. Author: Arkady Tsoglin