Art: Roerich’s Return

Nicholas Constantinovich Roerich nursed his chilblains. Jailbirds were glad, and school children, teachers, art students, functionaries at his Roerich Museum in Manhattan. They were glad because at last he was safe and recuperating from his five-year expedition in and around Tibet, in snow and desert. Where other expeditions dig and collect for science, he saw and painted for art. Snug with him at Darjeeling in northeast India last week were bales of his paintings. He has depicted the whole panorama of Tibet, scenery, people, customs. Some of his scenes are realistic; most are interpretative. A philosopher-painter, he prefers to translate a situation as he realizes it. Soon he will take his pictures to the U. S. for display first in his museum, then in jails and school houses for the benefit of the crass as well as of the well-bred. Many to know what he is trying to say with paintings will need the aid of the scientific notes that he made incidentally on his trip.

Harvard men were glad: George Roerich, Nicholas’ son, was well. Brilliant young Orientalist, he studied there. Perfect in more than a score of Asiatic dialects, on this expedition he was his father’s facile interpreter and pacifier of obstreperous brigands. He is a painter, too. His brother Sviatoslav is a portraitist. Sviatoslav has just reached Darjeeling from the U. S.

Women were glad: Mrs. Nicholas Roerich, mother and wife of the men, had had the stamina to accompany them through five years of privation. Last week at Darjeeling she was still weak from starvation, long marches, high climbing, winters in thin tents. Two other women had endured with her.

Archaeologists were glad: In the Altai Mountains, along northern Tibet, Dr. Roerich found tombs like those of Ancient Goths in eastern Europe. Buckles ornamented with Goth-like double eagles strengthened his theory. Tibetans told him that anciently the country around Lhasa was called Gotha.

Scientists were glad: Roerich notebooks were crammed with important observations—magnetic, meteorological, geological, topical botanical, zoological.

Devil worshippers were glad: The Roerichs found a Buddhism twisted topsy-turvy, the black faith of Bon Po. They worship demons, hate Buddhists, have their peculiar saints with a central, legendary protector similar to Buddha. The swastika is one of their symbols.

Swedes were glad: The Roerichs descend from Swedes who a thousand years ago founded the Russian empire.

Russians were glad: The Roerichs were born there. Nicholas Roerich’s father, important St. Petersburg attorney, insisted that his son study the law. The son wanted to study art. He studied both simultaneously and never practiced law. His first paintings were realistic and ordinary, yet showed that flashy brilliance that many Russians have when they are young and conceited. He spent a year in Paris and turned impressionist. Fantastic flat decorations are his forte and peculiarity. In this manner he has tried to picture Russia’s and Asia’s past. His pieces number about 3,000. Several hundred are in the Roerich Museum in Manhattan. They are wierd, mystical, fascinating.

Artists were glad: Nicholas Roerich has shown them a way of becoming successful. Returned to St. Petersburg from Paris he wanted to found a school. He hobnobbed with intellectuals; joined societies, shouted out his art theories, got an audience. He became first president of the first Russian art review Mir Iskusstva (Artistic World), which Serge Diaghilev edited. He designed the scenery for Alexander Borodin’s Prince Igor, for Stanislavsky’s production of Peer Gynt, for Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps. For this last one he also wrote the libretto. Then came the Russian revolutions. His St. Petersburg became Petrograd, Leningrad. He hustled to New York (1920). In Manhattan he founded the Master Institute of United Arts, “uniting all the arts and giving to young America the spirit of creation.” He founded another institution—Corona Mundi (Crown of the World), International Art Center, to take pictures (his own mostly) “directly to the people.” New U. S. friends organized for him the Roerich Museum to hold his swift paintings. That museum now has about 750 of his 3,000 works. Other productions are in the Louvre, Luxembourg, Victoria & Albert museums. Finally moneyed friends started to build him a 24-story skyscraper on Riverside Drive. It will be completed next July. On lower floors are picture galleries, an auditorium, two libraries of U. S. and Asian art and philosophy, studios, classrooms, conference rooms. The 20 upper floors are to be rented for studios and apartments. Topping all is a flamelike pinnacle. Enveloping all is a heavy mortgage.