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Nicholas Roerich: the story on HearLore | HearLore
— Ch. 1 · The Artist And The Lawyer —
Nicholas Roerich.
~11 min read · Ch. 1 of 7
On the 9th of October 1874, Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerich was born in Saint Petersburg to a well-to-do Baltic German father and a Russian mother. He enrolled simultaneously at St. Petersburg University and the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1893. This dual enrollment set him on an unusual path that combined legal training with artistic ambition. He received the title of artist in 1897 and earned his law degree the following year. Roerich stayed in Florence in 1906 and found early employment with the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. He directed its school from 1906 until 1917 despite early tensions with the group. He became a member of Sergei Diaghilev's World of Art society and served as its president from 1910 to 1916. His generation considered him Russia's most talented painter of the ancient past. This topic aligned perfectly with his lifelong interest in archaeology. He also achieved great fame as one of the designers for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. His best-known designs were for Alexander Borodin's Prince Igor in 1909 and later productions. He created costumes and sets for The Rite of Spring in 1913, composed by Igor Stravinsky. Alongside Mikhail Vrubel and Mikhail Nesterov, Roerich is considered a major representative of Russian Symbolism in art. From an early period of his life, he was influenced by apocrypha and medieval sectarian writings such as the mysterious Dove Book. Another of Roerich's artistic subjects was architecture. His acclaimed publication Architectural Studies ran from 1904 to 1905. It consisted of dozens of paintings he made of fortresses, monasteries, churches, and other monuments during two long trips through Russia. These works inspired his decades-long career as an activist on behalf of artistic and architectural preservation. He designed religious art for places of worship throughout Russia and Ukraine. Notable examples include the Queen of Heaven fresco for the Church of the Holy Spirit near Maria Tenisheva's Talashkino estate. He also created stained glass windows for the Datsan Gunzechoinei between 1913 and 1915. His designs for the Talashkino church were so radical that the Orthodox church refused to consecrate the building.
Revolution And Departure
After the February Revolution of 1917 ended the czarist regime, Roerich took an active part in artistic politics. With Maxim Gorky and Aleksandr Benois, he participated with the so-called Gorky Commission and its successor organization, the Arts Union. Both groups attempted to gain the attention of the Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviet on the need to form a coherent cultural policy. They urgently sought to protect art and architecture from destruction and vandalism. Meanwhile, illness forced Roerich to leave the capital and reside in Karelia, the district bordering Finland. He had already quit the presidency of the World of Art society. He now quit the directorship of the School of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. After the October Revolution and the acquisition of power by Lenin's Bolshevik Party, Roerich became increasingly discouraged about Russia's political future. During early 1918, he, Helena, and their two sons George and Svetoslav immigrated to Finland. Two unresolved historical debates are associated with Roerich's departure. First, it is often claimed that Roerich was a major candidate to direct a people's commissariat of culture which the Bolsheviks considered establishing in 1917, 1918. In fact, Benois was the most likely choice to direct any such commissariat. It seems that Roerich was a preferred choice to manage its department of artistic education. The topic is rendered moot by the fact that the Soviets elected not to establish such a commissariat. Second, when Roerich later wished to reconcile with the Soviet Union, he maintained that he had not left Soviet Russia deliberately. He argued that he and his family, living in Karelia, had been isolated from their homeland when the Finnish Civil War began. However, Roerich had an amply-documented extreme hostility to the Bolshevik regime. This stemmed not so much from a dislike of communism as from his revulsion at Lenin's ruthlessness. He feared that Bolshevism would result in the destruction of Russia's artistic and architectural heritage. He illustrated Leonid Andreyev's anticommunist polemic S.O.S. He also published a widely-published pamphlet titled Violators of Art between 1918 and 1919. Roerich believed that the triumph of Russian culture would come about through a new appreciation of ancient myth and legend.
Theosophy And The Great Plan
During the first decade of the 1900s and in the early 1910s, Roerich developed an interest in eastern religions alongside his wife Helena. They became avid readers of the Vedantist essays of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. They studied the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore and the Bhagavad Gita. The Roerichs' commitment to occult mysticism increased steadily. It was especially intense during World War I and the 1917 Russian Revolution. The couple accorded apocalyptic significance to these events. The influence of Theosophy, Vedanta, Buddhism, and other mystical topics can be detected not only in many of Roerich's paintings but also in his short stories and poems. These works were written before and after the 1917 revolutions. Examples include the Flowers of Morya cycle which was begun in 1907 and completed in 1921. After some months in Finland and Scandinavia, the Roerichs relocated to London, arriving in mid-1919. Engrossed with Theosophical mysticism, they now had millenarian expectations that a new age was imminent. They wished to travel to India as soon as possible. They joined the English-Welsh chapter of the Theosophical Society. It was in London, in March 1920, that the Roerichs founded their own school of mysticism called Agni Yoga. They described it as the system of living ethics. While in London, Roerich contributed scenic designs for LAHDA, a cooperative group of Russian theatrical artists led by Theodore Komisarjevsky. To earn passage to India, Roerich worked as a stage designer for Thomas Beecham's Covent Garden Theatre. The enterprise ended unsuccessfully in 1920, and the artist never received full payment for his work. Among the notable people Roerich befriended while in England were the famed British Buddhist Christmas Humphreys, the philosopher-author H. G. Wells, and the poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. A successful exhibition in London resulted in an invitation from a director at the Art Institute of Chicago. This offered to arrange for Roerich's art to tour the United States. In the autumn of 1920, the Roerichs traveled to America by sea.
The Asian Expedition And Detention
In 1923, Roerich set out to the Himalayas with his wife and his son Yuri. He initially settled in Darjeeling in the same house that the 13th Dalai Lama had stayed during his exile in India. Roerich spent his time painting the Himalayas with visitors such as Frederick Marshman Bailey, Lady Emily Bulwer-Lytton, and members of the 1924 British Everest Expedition. He also met Sonam Wangfel Laden La, Kusho Doring, and Tsarong Shape, influential Tibetans. According to British intelligence, lamas from the Moru monastery recognized Roerich as the incarnation of the Fifth Dalai Lama due to a mole pattern on his right cheek. It was during his stay in the Himalayas that Roerich learned about the flight of the 9th Panchen Lama. He interpreted this event as the fulfillment of the Matreiya prophecies and the bringing about of the Age of Shambhala. After leaving New York, the Roerichs began the five-year Roerich Asian Expedition with their son George and six friends. The journey started from Sikkim through Punjab, Kashmir, Ladakh, the Karakoram Mountains, Khotan, Kashgar, Qara Shar, Urumchi, Irtysh, the Altai Mountains, the Oyrot region of Mongolia, the Central Gobi, Kansu, Tsaidam, and Tibet. They made a detour through Siberia to Moscow in 1926. The expedition attracted attention from foreign services and intelligence agencies of the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Prior to this expedition, Roerich had solicited help from the Soviet government and Bolshevik secret police. He promised to monitor British activities in return but received only a lukewarm response from Mikhail Trilisser, the chief of Soviet foreign intelligence. Between the summer of 1927 and June 1928, the expedition was thought to have been lost as communication ceased. They had actually been attacked in Tibet. Roerich wrote that only the superiority of their firearms prevented bloodshed. In spite of having Tibet passports, the expedition was forcibly stopped by Tibetan authorities. They were detained by the government for five months. They lived in tents in sub-zero conditions and subsisted on meagre rations. Five men of the expedition died during this time. In March 1928 they were allowed to leave Tibet. They trekked south to settle in India where they founded a research center called the Himalayan Research Institute.
The Pact And Cultural Preservation
In 1929 Roerich was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by the University of Paris. He received two more nominations in 1932 and 1935. His concern for peace resulted in his creation of the Pax Cultura, the Red Cross of art and culture. This work led to the United States and 20 other nations of the Pan-American Union signing the Roerich Pact. The agreement protected cultural property and was signed into law on the 15th of April 1935 at the White House. In 1934, 1935, the U.S. Department of Agriculture sponsored an expedition conducted by Roerich, his wife Helena, and scientists H. G. MacMillan and James F. Stephens. The expedition traveled to Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, and mainland China. Its purpose was to collect seeds of plants which prevented soil erosion or withstood drought conditions. The expedition consisted of two parts. In 1934, they explored the Greater Khingan mountains and Bargan plateau in western Manchuria. In 1935, they explored parts of Inner Mongolia including the Gobi Desert, Ordos Desert, and Helan Mountains. The expedition found almost 300 species of xerophytes. They collected herbs, conducted archaeological studies, and found antique manuscripts of great scientific importance. Despite Roerich's peace activism, reports eventually reached Henry Wallace that the party had been using American-supplied weapons to threaten locals in Mongolia. These reports also claimed the group promised American support for an uprising.
Later Years And Political Connections
Roerich was in India during World War II where he painted Russian epic heroic and saintly themes. His works included Alexander Nevsky, The Fight of Mstislav and Rededia, and Boris and Gleb. In 1942, Roerich received Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi at his house in Kullu. Together they discussed the fate of the new world. They spoke about Indian-Russian cultural association and the need for useful and creative cooperation. Indira Gandhi later recalled several days spent together with Roerich's family. She described it as a memorable visit to a surprising and gifted family where each member was a remarkable figure. She remembered Roerich as a man with extensive knowledge and enormous experience who possessed a big heart. During the visit ideas and thoughts about closer co-operation between India and USSR were expressed. In 1942, the American-Russian Cultural Association was created in New York. Its active participants included Ernest Hemingway, Rockwell Kent, Charlie Chaplin, Emil Cooper, Serge Koussevitzky, and Valeriy Ivanovich Tereshchenko. Scientists such as Robert Millikan and Arthur Compton welcomed its activity. Roerich had a lengthy correspondence with Henry Wallace, the 1948 Progressive Party candidate for US president.
Death And Global Legacy
Roerich died in Kullu on the 13th of December 1947. His wife Helena wrote about this day stating that the cremation was exceptionally beautiful. No single breath of wind blew and all surrounding mountains were clad in fresh snowy attire. In the 21st century, the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York City is a major institution for his artistic work. Numerous Roerich societies continue to promote his theosophical teachings worldwide. His paintings can be seen in several museums including the State Museum of Oriental Arts in Moscow and the Russian State Museum in Saint Petersburg. Collections exist in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the Art Museum in Novosibirsk, and the National Gallery for Foreign Art in Sofia. A collection resides in the Art Museum in Nizhny Novgorod Russia and the National Museum of Serbia. The Roerich Hall Estate stands in Naggar India while the Sree Chitra Art Gallery holds works in Thiruvananthapuram. Selections featuring larger works appear in The Latvian National Museum of Art. A memorial plaque marks the house in Lahaul valley where Roerich lived during summers from 1929 to 1932. H. P. Lovecraft described Roerich's paintings of Asian mountain landscapes as strange and disturbing numerous times in his Antarctic horror story At the Mountains of Madness. Roerich was awarded the Order of St. Sava. The minor planet 4426 Roerich in the Solar System was named in honor of him. A crater on Mercury near the south pole is also named for Roerich. In June 2013 during Russian Art Week in London, Roerich's Madonna Laboris sold at auction at Bonhams shop for £7,881,250 including buyer's premium. This made it the most valuable painting ever sold at a Russian art auction.
Nicholas Roerich was born on the 9th of October 1874 in Saint Petersburg. He was born to a well-to-do Baltic German father and a Russian mother.
What were the main artistic achievements of Nicholas Roerich during his early career?
Nicholas Roerich received the title of artist in 1897 and earned his law degree in 1898. He designed costumes and sets for The Rite of Spring in 1913 and served as president of Sergei Diaghilev's World of Art society from 1910 to 1916.
Why did Nicholas Roerich leave Russia after the 1917 Revolution?
Nicholas Roerich left Russia because he feared that Bolshevism would result in the destruction of Russia's artistic and architectural heritage. He held extreme hostility toward the Bolshevik regime due to Lenin's ruthlessness and sought to protect cultural property.
How long did the Roerich Asian Expedition last and what happened to the group in Tibet?
The Roerich Asian Expedition lasted five years starting from Sikkim through Punjab, Kashmir, Ladakh, and other regions before returning to India. The expedition was forcibly stopped by Tibetan authorities in 1927 and detained for five months, during which time five men died.
What international agreements were signed regarding Nicholas Roerich's peace activism?
The United States and 20 other nations of the Pan-American Union signed the Roerich Pact on the 15th of April 1935 at the White House. This agreement protected cultural property and is also known as Pax Cultura or the Red Cross of art and culture.