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For decades, two paint-
ings by famed spy Tony
Mendez hid in a Denver
warehouse. Now, their
cover is being blown.
efore the hostages, before Iran, and before Ben Affleck, Tony Mendez was just a young artist try-
ing to make it in Denver. Then, in 1965, the 25-year-old answered a newspaper ad placed by the
U.S. Navy, which was looking for artists to work overseas. The job catapulted Mendez into a ca-
reer with the CIA that included orchestrating the rescue of six Americans from Iran, as portrayed
in the 2012 film Argo. Still, he continued to paint nearly until his death this past January. “He liked
to say, ‘I was always an artist,’ ” recalls his widow and fellow CIA officer, Jonna Mendez, “ ‘but for 25
years, I was a pretty good spy.’ ”
Born in 1940, Mendez moved to Colorado when he was 12. After graduating from Englewood High
School, he studied art at the University of Colorado Boulder for a year then worked odds jobs to sup-
port his young family. He also took commissions—among them, two large oil paintings (19th-centuryAUGUST 2019 | 5280 | (^39)
Compass
Denver education leaders hope to
put more play in the school day. PAGE 40