Osian's Auction Catalogue Indian Modern Contemporary Fine Arts | October 2018

39 Indian Modern Contemporary Fine Arts Nicholas Roerich made a deep and intimate study of the rocks and mountains of the inner Himalayas, and his Himalayan landscapes reveal unearthly beauty and grandeur. His colour may appear exaggerated to the people who live in the dusty plains, but those who have had an opportunity of travelling in high altitudes know what brilliant colours can be seen there at dawn and at sunset. Nicholas Roerich is not an ordinary landscape artist. It is nature strained through a fine consciousness, that we find revealed in his paintings. His mountain pictures have solitary figures of lamas, sadhus or hillmen standing before snow- covered peaks, symbolizing the insignificance of man before the mighty forces of nature. These landscapes are not merely records of places, but a means of recording the sense of grandeur and exaltation which the artist felt looking at these mountains… In the quiet of Naggar, Nicholas Roerich led a creative life, pervaded by spiritual understanding and harmony. Through his paintings he placed the Kulu Valley on the cultural map of the world... [Dr. H.] Goetz remarks that Nicholas Roerich was the first Russian representative of that simplified style developed by Manet, Gauguin and van Gogh which led to a new spatial and atmospheric probability by means of an intensive line and colour which in its turn evoked responses never possible in Eastern art. N. Roerich made a deep and intimate study of the rocks and mountains of the inner Himalayas, and his Himalayan landscapes reveal unearthly beauty and grandeur. His colours may appear exaggerated to the people who live in the dusty plains, but those who have had an opportunity of travelling in high altitudes know what brilliant colours can be seen there at dawn and sunset. M.S. Randhawa rpt. in Lalit Kala Contemporary Journal No.18 September 1974; p5. Nicholas Roerich Maitreya the Winner , c.1926 Roerich Museum, Moscow, Russia Nicholas Roerich Maitreya the Winner 1926 Nizhny Novgorod State Museum of Fine Arts, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia Nicholas Roerich The Command of Rigden Jyepo 1926 Roerich Museum, Moscow, Russia The sacred signs of Shambhala, Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram (Peace, Beauty, Truth) is the basic theme, which runs through most of Roerich’s paintings. Shambhala was the goal to which Roerich dedicated his life, not only in his paintings, but also through hi writings, the institutions he founded and his peace pact. According to Tibetan legend, the pure land of Shambhala is a mythical kingdom hidden among the highest mountains north of Tibet and protected by a powerful energy or force that is to remain until barbarism and warfare end. The world will be so overcome with war and negativity that the ruler of the legendary kingdom of Shambhala, Rigden Djapo will finally come forth with his armies and save the world. The path to Shambhala is the path to enlightenment and only true believers are guided to it by sacred symbols, messages and signs. Roerich interpreted Shambhala figuratively as well as literally He wrote, “When you dedicate yourself to Shambhala, everything is taken and everything is given to you. If you have regrets, you yourself become the loser; if you give joyously, you are enriched. Essentially the Teaching of Shambhala lies in this---that we do not speak of something distant and secret. If you know that everything may be achieved here on earth, then everything must be rewarded on earth.” The mystical side of Roerich believed that the path to Shambhala and enlightenment lay through India and the Himalayas. This path to Shambhala is the subject of many of Roerich’s works. The painter believed that the era of Shambhala was near at hand and his series of paintings called Maitreya , of the Maitreya Buddha (the Buddha of the future, associated with the legend of Shambhala) signify this. Rpt. in Prof. A.K.Das (Editor). Nicholas Roerich - A Himalayan Saga. New Delhi: National Museum 2002; p.8.