Nicholas Roerich
Art Appreciation Project
~ Nishant Singh (16M103) | Rohan Sablay (16M134) | Rudraneel Chattopadhyay (16M137)
~ Young India Fellowship (Class of 2016)
~ Ashoka University
This article studies, and comments on the ideology and art of Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947). Through this paper, we aim to understand Roerich’s process of creation and its relevance in today’s society. Nicholas Roerich was a trained painter and lawyer, also archaeologist, ethnographer, geographer, poet, historian, philosopher, scientist, traveller, fighter for peace, and defender of cultural values of all nations. Roerich, throughout his life, devoted himself to the ideal of the common good of mankind. He made India his home in the latter part of his life, and is today counted amongst the great Indian masters such as Rabindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose and Jamini Roy. Roerich’s outlook of the world was unique, based upon the knowledge of the fundamental laws of Existence. He was convinced that by increasing the level of masses’ spiritual culture, one could transform life on earth and defeat ignorance, vulgarity, exploitation and wars. In his own words “Where there is culture, there is
peace”. The legacy of Nicholas Roerich is a joint Russian-Indian cultural heritage. For this study, the team has visited the Roerich Estate in Naggar (Kullu), and sought information from the Roerich Museum, New York, and the International Roerich Centre, Moscow. The team acknowledges with gratitude the support of these institutions.
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Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................... 2 The person ............................................................................................................................................................................ 3 Early life ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Varied interests, stupendous proficiency ............................................................................................................................................. 4 Preservation of art in a career spanning wars .................................................................................................................................... 6
Creations through journey & times ................................................................................................................................... 7 War and „the prophetâ€&#x; ............................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Poignant longing ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 8 Poetry and reflections ............................................................................................................................................................................... 9
India ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 11 Himalayan expeditions ............................................................................................................................................................................. 11 Woman: a personification of nature ................................................................................................................................................... 13 Kullu Valley ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 14
Roerich and preservation of art ....................................................................................................................................... 15 Roerich Pact and the Banner of Peace ............................................................................................................................................... 15 Relevance in the 21st century ................................................................................................................................................................. 16
Existence through spirit ..................................................................................................................................................... 19
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Introduction In a large part of the global mindset,
Russian
culture
only really existed in the nineteenth century. Before Vladimir Putin‟s kleptocracy and before the horrific purges
of
the
Soviets,
Russia was, we are led to believe, backward
a
somewhat land
that
nevertheless managed to produce great works of art. Undoubtedly, Russia in the nineteenth century did churn out spectacular talents, from the poetry of the great Alexander Pushkin to the novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky and the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. While tremendous time and effort have been justly used in the study of Russia‟s “Golden Era”, too little time has been spent on its virtuosos of its twentieth century. However, when it comes to the finer things in life, none has gotten the dust-off more than Russian painting, especially the pre- and post-Soviet masters who failed to tow the avant-garde and social realist lines. Chief among these nonconformists is Nicholas Roerich, a man ostensibly of the esoteric school of modernism. Born Nicholas Konstantinovich Roerich in Saint Petersburg to a wellto-do family, Roerich remains a man out of time. Although Roerich met and was influenced by the many great artists of the day (Roerich knew personally Vladimir Strasov and the 2
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musicians Modest Mussorgsky, Igor Stravinsky, and Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov) and even though Roerich matriculated at the prestigious Imperial Academy of Arts, he remains a rather unorthodox traditionalist. Through his many interests, which included poetry, philosophy, painting, archeology, and Eastern religions, Roerich created a deeply imaginative world full of color, transcendence, and most importantly, history. In this way, Roerichâ€&#x;s spiritual antecedent is the great Russian master Viktor Vasnetsov.
The person Nicholas Roerich, born in St. Petersburg in 1874, figured prominently in the Silver Age of Russian art at the turn of the century. By the time he left Russia, around 1917, he had painted several hundred canvases and had achieved an international reputation. He continued to paint prolifically in Western Europe, America, Central Asia, and India until his death at Naggar in the Himalayas in 1947.
Early life Roerich was the eldest son of Konstantin Roerich - a St. Petersburg lawyer of
Picture 1: Portrait of Nicholas Roerich in a Tibetan Robe (1933) Svetoslav Roerich
Scandinavian descent - and his wife, Maria Kalashnikova, who came from an old
Russian family in Pskov. Initially, he was educated at the May Gymnasium in St. Petersburg (1883-93). Later, Roerich graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of St.
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Petersburg (1896) and the Academy of Fine Arts (1897). He read law only at his father's insistence and never went into practice. His own preference had been archaeology and history; consequently, he spent much of his time at university attending lectures on these subjects, and he became a member of the Institute of Archaeology while still a student. Roerich drew upon this expertise in
his
painting,
gaining
considerable notice as a historical painter early in his career. The eminent collector Pavel Tretyakov launched
him
when
purchased
he
Moscow
gallery,
professionally for
his
Roerich's
Picture 2: The Messenger (1897)
graduation painting, The Messenger (1897), which he had seen at the Academy's exhibition. The fascination Roerich found in the early history of his country gave rise to many paintings on such topics as the Stone Age, the ancient Slavs, the Vikings, the beginnings of Rus, and the
architecture
of
medieval
Russia.
Varied interests, stupendous proficiency Roerich's paintings continue to be well known in the Soviet Union and India, as do his writings and his activities
in
the
fields
of
archaeology, education in the arts,
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Eastern philosophy and world peace. In the West, though, he is best known as a theatrical designer, a reputation due especially to his sets and costumes for Serge Diaghilev's productions of the Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor in 1909 and Le Sacre du Printemps in 1913. Both ballets were acclaimed at the time of their Parisian premieres and became classics of stage decor. Roerich's designs for the theater were just one aspect - albeit an important one - of a full and varied career. Speaking of the range and content of his father's activities, Dr. Svetoslav Roerich, the younger of the painter's two sons, commented that "his success as a theatrical designer would have been
sufficient
to
satisfy
many
an
ambitious
man!"
In
addition to his work for the
theater,
painted
Roerich several
thousand
canvases,
together with a good number of murals and designs
for
mosaics.
He was the author of over a dozen published volumes, mainly dealing with cultural and philosophical subjects. He lectured on archaeology and conducted excavations in Russia and India. His interest in Eastern philosophy, which he shared with his wife, Helena, led to their promotion of Buddhism and a system of ethics known as Agni Yoga. Their names were also associated, to a lesser extent, with the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda and the writings of Helena Blavatsky. As an educator in the field of the arts, he was active with art schools and cultural institutions in St. Petersburg and New York. He was also involved with a number of social 5
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causes. In Russia, for instance, he helped with fund raising for the Red Cross, establishing architectural courses for women, rehabilitating
war invalids, and preserving ancient
buildings and monuments. In the West, he led an international campaign for peace and set up a laboratory for cancer research.
Preservation of art in a career spanning wars Roerich's
career
spanned
three continents and two world wars. It was caught up in
a
world
of
changing
frontiers and values. It started in the imperial Russia of Tsar Alexander III and in Paris and other continental cities as they were before and just after the First World War. It continued, after the Russian Revolution, in the England, America, and Asia of the post-war Twenties and the pre-war Thirties, and it finished in the strife-torn India of the British Raj, Independence, and the Partition. Roerich was a dedicated activist for the cause of preserving art and architecture during times of war. The Roerich Pact (signed into law by the United States and most nations of the Pan-American Union during April 1935) was amongst the first international treaties formed to protect art and heritage during times of conflict.
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Creations through journey & times Musical terms and analogies can appropriately be applied to Roerich‟s painting. He frequently related music to the use of color and color harmonies, and applied this sense to his designs for opera. The original force of Roerich‟s work consists in a masterly and marked symmetry and a definite rhythm, like the melody of an epic song.1
War and „the prophet‟ In the years immediately preceding World War I, Roerich sensed an impending cataclysm, and his paintings symbolically depicted the awful scale of the conflict he felt descending upon the world. These works marked the birth of Roerich the “prophet”.
1
Nina Selivanova, The World of Roerich (1922)
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In “Battle in the Heavens” Roerich used the violent contrast of light and darkness to suggest the terrible events that would soon overtake Russia and all Europe. By this time, in his depiction of both
historical
and
natural
themes, symbolism and the use of allegory had become essential ingredients in his work. As one critic wrote: “He populated his world not with participants in transitory dramas and comedies, but with spokesmen for the most steadfast ideas about the truth of Picture 3: Battle in the Heavens (1912)
life, the millennial struggle of good
and evil, the triumphal procession of a bright future for all.”
Poignant longing In 1915 Roerich became ill with pneumonia, and was sent by his doctor to recuperate with his family in Sortavala, Finland. This was a period of great unrest the world over, and no less so in the lives of the Roerich family. In Roerich‟s paintings of the period, such as “Karelia - Eternal Expectation” and “The Waiting Woman”, the cold, austere countryside of rocks and uninhabited shores of the north seems to express a sense
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of poignant longing. In “The Waiting Woman”, her gaze is fixed on the horizon as if she awaits some sign of the return of long-gone voyagers. By 1917 the revolution was raging in Russia and returning there would have been dangerous. The family began making plans to visit India, whose magnetic appeal had been felt increasingly during these years. This became a possibility in 1918 when Roerich was invited by a Swedish entrepreneur to exhibit his paintings in Stockholm.
Poetry and reflections Between
1916
and
1919
Roerich
had
written
a
collection of sixty-four blank verse
poems
published
that
were
in
Berlin,
in
Russian,
under
the
title
Flowers
of
Morya,
and
subsequently published in English as Flame in Chalice. In them we find Roerich‟s inner journey charted and his commitment to spiritual search stated. These poems evoke some of the images that Roerich later used in his paintings, and in a way help us to understand the symbols and meanings that lie behind some of them. “At the core of Roerich‟s belief system is the Hindu concept of a beginningless and endless universe which manifests itself in recurring cycles of creation and dissolution of material forms caused by the pulsation of divine energy. On the human plane, this means the rise
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and fall of civilizations and, in terms of individual life, the reincarnation of a soul‌�2 As Roerich, the poet, writes, in the poem About the Eternal:
Brother, let us abandon all that rapidly changes. Otherwise we will not have time to turn our thoughts to that which is changeless for all. To the eternal. In May, 1923, the Roerichs were at last on their way to India, where, in that ageless land, amid the snows of the Himalayan range, they sought to turn their thoughts to the Eternal.
2
Irina Corten, Flowers of Morya: The Theme of Spiritual Pilgrimage in the Poetry of Nicholas Roerich (1986)
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India The Roerichs landed in Bombay in December, 1923, and began a tour of cultural centers and historic sites, meeting Indian scientists, scholars, artists, and writers along the way. By the end of December 1923, they were already in Sikkim on the southern slopes of the Himalayas, and it is clear by the speed with which they reached the mountains that the Himalayas were where their interest lay.
Himalayan expeditions They initiated a journey of exploration that would take them into Chinese Turkestan, Altai, Mongolia and Tibet. It was an expedition into untracked regions where they planned to study the religions, languages, customs, and culture of the inhabitants. Roerich wrote about this first Central Asiatic Expedition in his book Heart of Asia, and he creates for the reader a vivid account of the wonder of the land and its people. However, the images are nowhere as vivid as in the five hundred or so paintings that resulted from the trek. In Kanchenjunga, Sikkim Pass, His Country, The Great Spirit of the Himalayas, and the Banners of the East series, we can see philosophical concepts and ideas giving birth to visual images, and the splendor of Northern India providing the physical setting.
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In The Path, the figure of Christ leads the way along a tortuous path through crags and peaks of the Himalayas, a metaphor for the hazardous obstacles confronting the spiritual journeyer. Eastern religious figures and concepts appear in the paintings, important among these being the images of the Lord Maitreya—the Buddhist Messiah, the Kalki-Avatar of the Puranas, Rigden Jyepo of Mongolia, or the White Burkhan of Altai—all of whom are described in legends that link them with the Ruler of Shambhala, who is “destined to appear on earth for the final destruction of the wicked, the renovation of creation and the restoration of purity.”3 The trek was at times arduous. Roerich tells us that thirty-five mountain passes from fourteen to twenty-one thousand feet in elevation were crossed. But these were the challenges he felt born for, believing that the rigor of the mountains helped a man to find courage and develop strength of spirit. And in spite of obstacles, wherever they went the Roerichs‟ belief in the essential goodness of life and the spirituality of man was reinforced. Roerich‟s Banners of the East series of nineteen paintings depicting the world‟s religious teachers, Mohammed, Jesus, Moses, Confucius, and Buddha, and the Indian and Christian saints and sages, was a testimonial to the unity of religious striving and the common roots of man‟s faith.
3
Helena Blavatsky, The Theosophical Glossary (1892) in Nicholas Roerich, Heart of Asia: Memoirs from the Himalayas (Reprint 1990)
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Woman: a personification of nature At counterpoint to these themes in Roerich‟s painting is the image of Woman and her destined role in the coming era, and we can assume that what Helena Roerich wrote to a friend in 1937 reflects Nicholas‟ own point of view: “…woman should realize that she herself contains all forces, and the moment she shakes off the age-old hypnosis of her seemingly lawful subjugation and mental inferiority and occupies herself with a manifold education, she will create in collaboration with man a new and better world… Cosmos affirms the greatness of woman‟s creative principle. Woman is a personification of nature,
and
it
is
nature that teaches man,
not
nature. may
man
Therefore, all
women
realize the grandeur of their origin, and may they strive for knowledge.”4
Nicholas Roerich depicted the great female deities in such paintings as She Who Leads, Madonna Laboris, and The Mother of the World. This latter conception, equivalent to the Lakshmi and Kali of India, is one of Roerich‟s most inspiring images, rendered with majesty in deep tones of blue and violet. Helena Roerich‟s contribution in the life and work of Nicholas cannot be overestimated. Their union could be best described as a lifetime collaboration in 4
Letters of Helena Roerich 1935-1939, vol. II 13
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fields of mutual endeavor. Her philosophy, comprising a living ethic, was shared by Nicholas and motivated him in his work and his life. At some time in their late years an anniversary approached and he wrote in his diary: “Forty years—no less than forty. On such a long voyage, meeting many storms and dangers from without, together we overcame all obstacles. And obstacles turned into possibilities. I dedicated my books to Helena, my wife, friend, traveling companion, inspirer! Each of these concepts was tested in the fire of life. And in Petersburg, Scandinavia, England, America, and in all Asia we worked, we studied, we broadened our consciousness. Together we created, and not without reason is it said that the work should bear two names—a feminine and a masculine.”
Kullu Valley At the end of their major expedition, in 1928, the family settled in the Kullu Valley at an elevation of 6,500 feet in the Himalayan foothills, with a magnificent view of the valley and the surrounding mountains. Here they established their home and the headquarters of the Urusvati Himalayan Research Institute, which was organized to study the results of their expedition, and of those explorations that were yet to come. The Institute‟s activities included
botanical
and
ethnological-
linguistic studies, and the exploration of archeological sites. Under the direction of their father the two Roerich sons, George and Svetoslav, established a collection of medicinal herbs, and made extensive studies in botany and ancient medical lore, as well as in Tibetan and Chinese pharmacopoeia. 14
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Roerich and preservation of art Roerich Pact and the Banner of Peace In the following year, on a trip back to New York for the opening of the Roerich Museum‟s new premises, Roerich raised an issue that had been close to his heart for many years. Using the Red Cross as an example, he proposed a treaty for the protection of cultural treasures during times of both war and peace—a proposal he had unsuccessfully tried to promote in 1914. In consultation with lawyers versed in international law, he drafted a Pact, and suggested that a flag would be flown over all places under its protection. This flag he called the Banner of Peace. The design of the Banner shows three spheres surrounded by a circle, in magenta color on a white background. Of the many national and individual interpretations of this symbol, the most usual are perhaps those of Religion, Art and Science as aspects of Culture, which is the surrounding circle; or of past, present, and future achievements of humanity guarded within the circle of Eternity. The symbol can be seen in the seal of Tamerlane, in Tibetan, Caucasian, and Scandinavian jewelry, and on Byzantine and Roman artifacts. The image of the Strasbourg Madonna is adorned with it. It can be seen in many of Roerich‟s paintings, most notably Madonna Oriflamma, in which Woman is depicted as the carrier and defender of the Banner. In this sign and the motto, Pax Cultura, that accompanies it, is symbolized Roerich‟s vision for humanity. As he wrote: “Let us be united—you will ask in what way? You will agree with me: in the easiest way, to create a common and sincere language. Perhaps in Beauty and 15
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Knowledge.” Roerich‟s efforts to promulgate such a treaty resulted, finally, on April 15, 1935, in the signing by the nations of the Americas—members of the Pan American Union—of The Roerich Pact, in the White House in Washington. This is a treaty still in force. Many individuals, groups, and associations around the world continue to promote awareness of the Pact, the Banner, and their underlying principles.
Relevance in the 21st century The Roerich Pact is not only
a
relatively
short
multilateral treaty: it is a combination of legal ideas about a new state order in which the state and the culture closely overlap. A measure of this complexity is the share of state budget annually spent on culture, art and education, which in many countries exceeds military expenses. Important in the framework of ideas of the Roerich Pact is the recognition that the safety of any foreign cultural object on the territory of a foreign state must be also respected and treated as a factor much higher in significance than military willingness to bomb, destroy or use it for military purposes. Nicholas Roerich managed to continue and develop into a profound and feasible doctrine the famous maxim proclaimed by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “Beauty will save the World!” Hence starts a very powerful Russian movement in the development of the concept of aesthetical 16
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statehood. The concept of the state as a work of art was first suggested in the 19th century by Jacob Burckhardt, who was Swiss historian of art, specializing in Italian Renaissance, and who gave this name to a chapter of one of his books. The concept itself had not been formulated to a completion and was expressed in a general idea that period, as well as their rulers, considered the achievements in culture and art as most important for securing the prestige both of their states and their own, which finally resulted in the unique Italian Renaissance art, literature, philosophy and science. Roerich produced ideas based on the approaches used by Burkhardt and Dostoevsky. Roerich considered the care for future generations to be a cornerstone of the existence of the rule of law and the constitutional state. President of the USA, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in the speech upon the signature of the „Roerich Pact‟ Treaty said: “In opening this Pact to the adherence of the Nations of the world, we are endeavoring to make of universal application one of the principles vital to the preservation of modern civilization. This Treaty possesses a spiritual significance far deeper than the text of the instrument itself. It is important to realize that the Roerich Pact was only the first step towards the future development of a new legal culture. All written laws must conform to the universal unwritten principles of morality, fairness, and justice, equality, autonomy, dignity, and respect that is known as a higher law theory. The concrete conceptual provisions of Roerich‟s philosophical and legal concept of the state are based on the one of Rule According to Higher Law ideas that the primary duty of the state is to sustain and develop the spiritual unity of its citizens, by carefully preserving the best specimens of national cultural heritage, promoting universal culture and spiritual growth of all people, especially the young ones. At that, the major share of profits received by the state should be directed at the development of culture, which, as it was already mentioned, would lead to a further growth of economic prosperity.
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According to Roerich's concept, the state, as an instrument for the preservation and development of culture, the instrument defending both domestic and foreign cultural treasures, the instrument maintaining peace and avoiding wars, the instrument building a new civilization, based on the best cultural traditions of today and, therefore, spending the utmost economically reasonable assets for these purposes, — all this can be explicitly and exclusively based on constitutional foundation for using Roerich‟s words, “a State of the future” and “a civilization of the future.” The Roerich Pact led way to the 1954 Hague Convention, 1972 World Convention, 1999 Second Protocol to Hague Convention,
and
2003
Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention.
Ideas
of
the
Roerich Pact are still not fully implemented
in
the
international law, and 21st century may be a good time to resurrect Roerich's concept of beauty and culture as a path to peace.
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Existence through spirit It is in his Himalayan paintings that one most easily finds evidence of the loftiness of spirit and sense of mission that led Roerich to attempt the tasks he set for himself. In them can be seen the sense of drama, the urgency of a message to send or receive, a traveler to greet, a mission to perform, a path to travel. The towering mountains stand for the spiritual goals that humanity must set for itself. Roerich urges people on to their spiritual destiny and reminds them of their duty to prepare for the New Era in which Rigden Jyepo will gather his army and under the Banner of Light defeat the host of darkness. Roerich the warrior was already armed and mounted; he sought to muster his army for the battle, and bid that their breastplates bear the word “culture.” The pursuit of refinement and beauty was sacred for Roerich. He believed that although earthly temples and artifacts may perish, the thought that brings them into existence does not die but is part of an eternal stream of consciousness—man‟s aspirations nourished by his directed will and by the energy of thought. Finally, he believed that peace on Earth was a prerequisite to planetary survival and the continuing process of spiritual evolution, and he exhorted his fellow man to help achieve that peace by uniting in the common language of Beauty and Knowledge. Maharishi Nicholas Roerich died in Kullu on December 13, 1947. His body was cremated and its ashes buried on a slope facing the mountains
he
loved
and
portrayed in many of his nearly seven thousand works.
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