This collection was formed by the Italian journalist Luigi Fossati following the end of the Thaw when non-conformist and dissident artists were once again driven underground. At the time Fossati was the Eastern correspondent at Il Giorno, who was posted first to Hamburg, Warsaw and then Moscow between 1964 and 1969. It was Hans Bjorkegen, the Swedish poet, historian and preeminent translator of Russian literature into Swedish, who first introduced him into the circle of the Moscow nonconformists and the Fossatis’ apartment soon became a meeting place for artists, foreign journalists and diplomats. Fossati’s wife was herself an amateur artist and struck up a friendship with Anatoly Zverev in particular, often making him generous gifts of artist’s materials.