Fiery Works Housed in a Place of Peace
A century ago, avant-garde artists sought out the painter Nicholas Roerich when they needed historical representation. His décor for the original ballet Le Sacre du Printemps, with music by Igor Stravinsky and choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky, made a household word of his name (almost.) But when the legendary work is reimagined, as it has been at least 150 times, he’s usually not credited as a creator. In an exceptional 1987 reconstruction, Millicent Hodgson and Kenneth Archer attempted to piece together the lost choreography for the Joffrey Ballet. They made numerous visits to the museum to study Roerich’s designs, forty years after his death. A look through the museum, which has been open to the public since 1949, attests to his part in the classic collaboration.
Roerich wrote The Pact in accordance with his notion about the sacredness of art and symbolized it with a Banner of Peace. This was signed by President F.D. Roosevelt in 1935, and it was ultimately accepted by thirty-six countries. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He hoped that the banner would fly outside museums, marking neutral, demilitarized zones protected in times of war and peace.
Roerich designed this Banner of Peace symbol, based on a common motif, to represent the totality of culture— art, science, and religion.
Roerich's mature paintings show a highly individual style. He used medieval techniques, pure pigments and tempera medium on canvas or cardboard. The paintings’ incredibly fresh and brilliant look today, attests to his technical acumen. He worked in series, each with a simple color theme. Polovtsian scenes are orange. Religious scenes and mountainous landscapes have an abundance of white, gold, and blue. A rocky, woodsy scene for Ibsen’s Peer Gynt is Cezannesque. In his stylized compositions, he was not without affinities to the post-impressionists, constructivists, and early moderns.
Krishna
1929
Tempera on canvas, 74 x 118 cm.
© Nicholas Roerich Museum
Later, along with his extra-art interests and activities, he painted spiritual scenes ranging from Joan of Arc to Krishna. A painting of stained glass windows appears lighted from within. His sentiments for peace are not unique. His paintings are.
He opened a theater design school in New York. It closed after the depression years. He founded the Agni Yogi Society with his wife Helena. He travelled to the Himalayas and started a Research Institute there. He was a World of Art editor, Diaghilev’s magazine that sought to bring together the arts. Hence, the interest in collaborative work among today’s artists continues.
It could be that his eclectic undertakings devalued his creations in paint. Nevertheless, the museum was lively with visitors on the two occasions I visited. In the vibrant Lotus, a young man sits in the position, half emerged in chemical aqua. No matter how unlikely, it is transformative.