How the artist's son Myasoedov repaid his father for his mutilated childhood

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Ivan Myasoedov, in contrast to his famous father, the itinerant painter Grigory Grigorievich Myasoedov, was not much like an artist in its essence, both external and internal. He could tie a poker in a knot, appear in public in what his mother gave birth to, and found an unexpected criminal application for his artistic talent.

The fate of Ivan Myasoedov

Artist, rebel, strongman, adventurer, nudist, bodybuilder, anarchist Ivan Grigorievich Myasoyedov was born in 1881 on the estate of Pavlenka's father, near Poltava. Born into the family of the famous painter Grigory Myasoedov, Ivan until almost 18 years old considered him his guardian, and his own mother - a breadwinner and servant. And it all happened because of the wayward and tough disposition of the father, who did not want to recognize him as a blood son. As a small child, Vanya had to be brought up by strangers, and upon returning home, when Gregory nevertheless recognized his own blood, to be beaten half to death by his father.

A detailed story about the miserable childhood of Vanya Myasoedov, about the fate of his relatives can be read in the review: Fathers and Sons: For which the Itinerant artist Myasoyedov almost killed his little son.

Towards art

Grigory Myasoedov, wanting to see his successor in his offspring, in all ways decided to make him an artist. So, even in early childhood, Ivan Myasoedov began to study drawing at a private school, which was created by his father in Poltava. And at the age of 15, the young man became a student of the Moscow School of Painting, where he quite successfully comprehended the basics of painting skills. After graduating from college, Ivan received the title of "non-class artist", which enabled the young painter to immediately enroll in the course of battle painting at the Academy of Arts, which he graduated in 1909.

During his student years, Ivan created many monumental paintings on ancient subjects, as well as many portraits and landscapes. At the same time, the young painter attended the engraving workshop of Professor V. V. Mate. And it should be noted that engraving interested the novice master much more than painting.

In addition to creativity, as a student, Ivan Myasoedov became interested in weightlifting and kettlebell lifting. Well built by nature, the exact opposite of his skinny father, he soon brought his body to perfection and became a member of the Athletic Society of the Count Ribopierre. At the All-Russian Weightlifting Championships, starting in 1909, he began to take prizes.

His fellow student, in the future a famous painter - Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin recalled the handsome Myasoyedov Jr. this way:

After graduating from the Academy, Ivan goes to Italy at public expense, where he turned to the fullest, demonstrating his young strong body. Instead of painting and the history of world art, he now and then participated in various beauty contests and athletic competitions.

Upon his return to Russia, Myasoyedov performed successfully in the circus and cabaret. He often appeared in public in defiantly short tunics, and often without them at all.

Father and son are two real opposites

And was it necessary to say that all this unbearably irritated and infuriated Grigory Myasoedov - a man of a completely different mindset and external data. Since Ivan's mother died, an unspoken enmity has flared up between father and son.

- such an assessment was given by a parent to his offspring in his student years.

Both Myasoedovs were two completely opposite personalities. From the memoirs of a contemporary about Myasoyedov Jr.

And everything that was dear to his father, Myasoedov Jr. despised and everything the same was exactly the opposite. And this opposition manifested itself in literally everything. While Myasoedov Sr. was a fine music lover who adored Bach and Chopin, the younger was fascinated by the circus and colorful spectacles. The elder played chess masterfully, the younger juggled with weights like balls and tied steel rods in knots, girding them, for a joke, the guards of the Academy, like a sash.

An eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth

And when the truth about Ivan's origin became clear, something seemed to break in him, and he practically denied his father. Having moved from the house to the outbuilding, I did not speak to him for months. He deliberately threw his weights on the garden paths. Thus, forcing the elderly father to stumble over them. Grigory Grigorievich, of course, could not move them from their place, since he was never distinguished by good health, and pride did not give him to ask his son to remove the weights.

Forgiveness or revenge

The truth is, perhaps, they say that for evil and wrongs one must always pay the bills. When in 1911 Myasoyedov Sr. was lying in death throes on his deathbed, his son unexpectedly appeared to him. Under the symphony of Bach and Chopin, Ivan painted his father on his deathbed, with diligence capturing the sharpened features of his appearance, in his death throes. And what was driving Ivan's hand at that moment: forgiveness or hatred, probably even the author himself did not know.

After the death of Grigory Myasoyedov, his son mercilessly sold off his paintings - almost everything that the elder Myasoyedov wrote and collected in his entire life.

An artist's life of adventure

While still studying at the academy, Myasoedov Jr. with incredible persistence learned the art of engraving in the workshop of Professor Mate. It is this skill that will eventually allow him to live on a grand scale, but will not bring him to good.

The artist's personal life changed dramatically when he met the Italian dancer Malvina Vernichi, who came to Russia in 1912 on a tour. At first sight, he fell in love with a petite woman with a Greek profile and flexible muscular body, which absolutely corresponded to the idea of an athlete-artist of ancient beauty. Soon they began to live together in a civil marriage and they had a daughter. The family was interrupted by the small earnings of her husband, who was working at that time in the circus arena., - from the memoirs of Vladimir Milashevsky, a friend of the artist.

The revolution that broke out abruptly changed the life of the artist himself and his loved ones. Being an anarchist by nature, Ivan did not accept new ideas and joined Denikin's army, becoming an art correspondent with it. Then there was a prisoner, a death sentence and an escape, which he made, breaking the bars of the bars with his bare hands.

Miraculously survived, Ivan and his family in 1921 sailed from the Crimea on a German ship to Turtsu, then moved to Germany and settled in Berlin for a long time. There he paints to order. His portrait painting began to be in great demand, and the artist became quite famous.

In Germany, the Myasoedovs suddenly became rich … However, against the background of general impoverishment in the country, the family of Russian emigrants, living on a grand scale, looked rather strange. In their house there were constant gatherings of Russian emigrants, artists and poets, who needed to be treated with something. This was very strange, even with the many orders for painting. The circumstances were soon revealed in the most incredible way: in 1923, the artist Myasoedov and his wife were arrested for their complicity for counterfeiting. Moreover, Myasoedov forged not a flimsy brand at that time, but pounds and dollars, making banknotes of impeccable quality. This is where the engraving lessons came in handy for the artist, which he never missed …

After spending three years in prison, the Russian artist is released. And again Ivan takes up his brush and writes a whole series of nostalgic canvases filled with homesickness.

However, having once stood on a slippery road, Myasoedov Jr. could not get off it until the end of his days. In 1933, he was again arrested for counterfeiting banknotes and a year in prison. Then he escaped with Malvina and her daughter from Germany to Riga, and from there, using fake passports for Evgeny and Malvina Zotovs, to Belgium. And later, having secured a letter of recommendation from Mussolini himself, whose portrait the artist painted at the Italian embassy in Belgium, the family moved to Liechtenstein, where they settled in Vaduz.

In the capital of a small principality, the Zotov-Myasoyedovs were known as a respectable and respectable family. Ivan-Eugene soon became a court portrait painter, fulfilling orders for the princely house, where he painted portraits of Prince Franz Joseph II and his wife. And also the Russian artist at that time created sketches of state postage stamps, which are now included in all catalogs, and painted the cinema in Vaduz with frescoes. All this did not prevent him during the Second World War to regularly transfer clichés to Germany: the pounds printed with their help were supposed to undermine the economy of England. Although Ivan Myasoedov has aged, his passion for counterfeiting has remained ineradicable.

But in 1946, the truth emerges that Yevgeny Zotov is an impostor living on a fake passport. And the head of the Zotov family once again finds himself in the dock. True, this trial was pure fiction: having received another couple of years, the artist did not stay in prison for several months.

The artist lived in Vaduz for another five years, making his living by painting. And in 1953, 71-year-old Myasoyedov and his family decided to move to Argentina. However, immediately upon arrival in Buenos Aires, Ivan Grigorievich unexpectedly fell seriously ill and died suddenly. The diagnosis is liver cancer. This is how the artist ended his life, leaving behind about 4000 paintings and graphic works, an adventurer and an eternal wanderer - Ivan Myasoedov. His faithful wife and comrade-in-arms Malvina outlived Ivan by twenty years.

Gallery of works by Ivan Myasoedov

The theme of fathers and children in all ages has been relevant. And in continuation of this burning topic, read: The Crying Boy Riddle and Curse: Why Amadio was Called the Devil's Painter.