Joint Issue Ukraine-Liechtenstein - Eugen Zotow

Painter, graphic artist and photographer known by the name of Eugen Zotow in Liechtenstein, originally came from today's Ukraine, which gained state sovereignty in 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Born Ivan Miassojedoff in Kharkiv in 1881, he attended his father's painting school in Poltava, a city in central Ukraine, before being moving to Moscow and St. Petersburg for academic studies in painting.

The impact of the First World War and the Russian Revolution caused his life plans to fail and prompted him to leave his homeland. The Crimean peninsula was his last stop on home soil in 1919. His path to exile took him and his small family via stops in several other places to Berlin and finally to Liechtenstein in 1938. As an exile, he was only allowed to earn his living by practising art, according to an order of the Liechtenstein government. Until his death in 1953, he created numerous works of art and also designed twelve Liechtenstein postage stamps.

Now two special stamps are being dedicated to him as part of a joint issue with Ukraine: Philately Liechtenstein chose the motif "View of Vaduz Castle" (face value: CHF 1.40) from the collection of Prof. Eugen Zotow-Ivan Miassojedoff-Stiftung, Vaduz, while the Ukrainian Post (Ukrposhta) opted for a "Self-portrait" (face value: CHF 2.20) from Poltava Art Museum.