B. 1874 St. Petersburg, Russia
D. 1947 Naggar, India
nicholas
roerich
The Artist
Biography
Nicholas Roerich
B. 1874 St. Petersburg, Russia D. 1947 Naggar, India
Born in St. Petersburg in 1874, Nicholas Roerich studied painting under Arkhip Kuindzhi at the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Art. and he later went on to study under Fernand Cormon in Paris. In 1905 Roerich began to exhibit in major European cities including London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Venice, and Brussels. He was appointed Academician in 1909 and was a member and later President of Mir Iskusstva, a revolutionary artistic group that sought the aesthetic revival of artistic tradition, particularly folk art, and the integration of the various forms of High Art, as best exemplified by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, for which writers, composers, artists, and performers collaborated to superb effect. While in Russia, Roerich's oeuvre was dominated by themes of legend and folklore; he worked with Stravinsky on Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) and created set designs for numerous operas and plays. Roerich left Russia after the Bolshevik revolution, spending time in Scandinavia and Europe before settling in the United States for three years, from 1920-23.
Robert Harshe, director of the Chicago Art Institute, organized a touring exhibition of his artwork which received considerable attention, dramatically introducing Roerich to an American audience. The art critic Olin Downes commented, "in the midst of our modern society, so positive and so limited, [Roerich] gives to his fellow artists a prophetic example of the goal they must reach-the expression of the Inner Life" (as quoted in Jacqueline Decter, Nicholas Roerich: The Life and Art of a Russian Master, 1989). Roerich set off for the Far East in 1923 and traveled extensively throughout Asia for the next five years. His canvases from that period, mostly landscapes of mountain ranges, are infused with mystical and spiritual references. In 1929 he settled in the Kullu Valley of Northern India, and he continued to travel extensively and organize expeditions until the end of the 1930s. During his very prolific career, Roerich painted about four thousand canvases, many of which are in Museums.
Available Artwork
Untitled Mountaintop, Monastery
oil tempera on wood panel
(8.38 x 10.12 in.)
Landscape
pastel
47 x 62.3 cm (18.5 x 24.5 in)
Sunset over the river
Watercolor and gouache on cardboard
24.9 x 76.9 cm (9.8 x 30.3 in.)
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