“The defense of the Motherland is the defense of culture. Great Motherland, all your inexhaustible beauty, all your spiritual treasures, all your infinity at all peaks
and we will defend the vastness."
Nicholas Roerich.
Nicholas Roerich was born on October 9, 1874 in the city of St. Petersburg. His surname is of Scandinavian origin and means "rich in fame". Konstantin Fedorovich Roerich, the father of the future artist, belonged to the Swedish-Danish family, whose representatives moved to Russia at the beginning of the 18th century. He worked as a Notary Public for the District Court and was a member of the Free Economic Society. Ashamed of the serfdom of the Russian peasants, Konstantin Fedorovich took an active part in the development of the reform of 1861 for their release. Many famous public figures and scientists were among his clients and friends. Often in the living room of the Roerichs one could see the chemist Dmitry Mendeleev and the historian Nikolai Kostomarov, the lawyer Konstantin Kavelin and the sculptor Mikhail Mikeshin.
Since childhood, Nicholas possessed a rich imagination, was interested in Ancient Russia and its northern neighbors. The boy loved listening to old legends, was fond of reading history books and dreamed of long journeys. Already at the age of eight, it was impossible to tear him away from paints and paper, at the same time he began to compose his first stories. Family friend Mikhail Mikeshin, drawing attention to the boy's penchant for drawing, gave him initial lessons in skill. Young Kolya also had one more hobby - archaeological excavations. The guy was attracted to them by the famous doctor and archaeologist Lev Ivanovsky, who often stayed in Izvara - the Roerichs' estate. In the vicinity of Izvara, there were many mounds, and thirteen-year-old Nikolai personally found several gold and silver coins of the 10th-11th centuries.
Roerich received his first education in the Karl May school, unique in its structure, which possessed a harmonious balance of the spirit of free creativity and discipline. He studied there from 1883 to 1893, his classmates were such famous Russian artists as Konstantin Somov and Alexander Benois. In 1891, the first literary works of Nikolai were published in the publications "Russian Hunter", "Nature and Hunting" and "Okhotnichya Gazeta". Konstantin Fyodorovich was convinced that Nikolai, undoubtedly the most capable of his three sons, should continue the family business and inherit the notary office. But Roerich himself showed interest only in geography and history, while dreaming of becoming a professional artist.
Despite the disagreements that arose in the family, the young man managed to find a compromise - in 1893 he entered the Academy of Arts, at the same time becoming a student of the law faculty of St. Petersburg University. A colossal load fell on him, but Roerich turned out to be a real workhorse - he was strong, enduring and tireless. Every morning he started with work in the studio of his teacher, the artist Arkhip Kuindzhi, then he ran to the university for a lecture, and in the evenings Nikolai was engaged in self-education. The indefatigable student organized a circle among his comrades in which young people studied ancient Russian and Slavic art, ancient literature and Western philosophy, poetry, religious studies, and history.
It is worth noting that young Roerich was never a learned "cracker", rather he was expressive, touchy and ambitious. This is well reflected by the emotional entries he made in his diary, for example: “Today I completely ruined the study. Nothing will come of it. … Oh, I sense they will. With what eyes my acquaintances will look at me. Do not let, Lord, shame! ". But, as you know, no shame happened to him. On the contrary, as an artist, Nikolai Konstantinovich made a meteoric rise. Roerich not only successfully graduated from the Academy of Arts in 1897, but was also noted by the masters - Pavel Tretyakov himself acquired his painting "The Messenger" directly from the diploma exhibition for his museum.
In 1898 Nikolai Konstantinovich successfully graduated from St. Petersburg University, and in 1899 he published a wonderful article "On the way from the Varangians to the Greeks", written under the impression of a trip to Veliky Novgorod. Also, from 1896 to 1900, Roerich repeatedly reported on the results of his excavations in the St. Petersburg, Novgorod and Pskov provinces. During these years, he lectured at the Archaeological Institute, published in well-known St. Petersburg publications and painted a lot. His works were really lucky - they were noticed, they were regularly exhibited. Roerich spent the end of 1900 - the beginning of 1901 in Paris, where he improved his artistic education under the guidance of the famous French painter Fernand Cormon.
In 1899, vacationing in the summer at the estate of Prince Pavel Putyatin, located in Bologo, Roerich met his niece - Elena Ivanovna Shaposhnikova, the daughter of a famous architect, and also a great-uncle of the legendary military leader Mikhail Kutuzov. The tall young beauty with lush brown hair and dark almond-shaped eyes made a huge impression on Roerich. Elena Shaposhnikova also saw something significant in him, as she later wrote: "Mutual love decided everything." However, her relatives were against marriage - Nicholas Roerich seemed to them not well-born enough. However, Elena Ivanovna managed to insist on her own. The young were married on October 28, 1901 in the church of the Academy of Arts, and on August 16 of the following year, their son Yuri was born.
"Overseas guests". 1901
In 1902-1903, Roerich carried out large archaeological excavations in the Novgorod province, participated in exhibitions, gave lectures at the Archaeological Institute and closely collaborated with various publications. In 1903-1904, he and his wife visited over forty old Russian cities. During the trip, the Roerichs thoroughly and thoroughly studied architecture, customs, legends, crafts and even folk music of ancient settlements. During this time, Nikolai Konstantinovich created a series of sketches, numbering about seventy-five works written in oil paints. And on October 23, 1904, the Roerichs had a second son, Svyatoslav.
In subsequent years, Nikolai Konstantinovich continued to work hard. In 1904, he first visited the United States, taking part in the World's Fair in St. Louis. In 1905, his exhibitions were held with resounding success in Berlin, Vienna, Milan, Prague, Dusseldorf, Venice. In 1906 he was elected director of the school of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts in Russia, in Reims - a member of the National Academy, and in Paris - a member of the Salon d'Automne. Roerich undertook travels across Italy, Switzerland, Finland, England, Holland, Belgium. In 1909 he was promoted to a full member of the Academy of Arts, since then he received the right to sign his letters as "Academician Roerich". In the fall of 1910, the artist donated more than thirty thousand Stone Age objects from his collection to the Peter the Great Museum of Ethnography and Anthropology. In 1911, at the invitation of Maurice Denis, Roerich took part in the Paris exhibition of religious art, and in May 1913 Emperor Nicholas II awarded him the Order of St. Vladimir of the fourth degree.
"The Last Angel". 1912
By this time, Roerich's enthusiasm for the East began to manifest itself more and more. By the way, it did not appear out of nowhere; in this regard, the famous artist was not at all original and fully corresponded to the spirit of the times. In 1890, the heir to the throne, Nicholas II, together with the orientalist Prince Esper Ukhtomsky, visited many cities in India, bringing from there a huge collection of items of the local Buddhist cult. A special exhibition was even organized in the halls of the Winter Palace. Later, at the beginning of the 20th century, the books "The Proclamation of Ramakrishna" and "Bhagavatgita" were translated and published in Russia, allowing Russians to get acquainted with Indian metaphysical doctrines and views on historical and cosmic cycles. Among many others, Nicholas Roerich was subdued by these works; Tibetan miracle workers and the whole of Tibet became especially attractive to him.
India began to appear more and more often in Roerich's paintings and articles. By 1914, when the construction of the first Buddhist temple began in St. Petersburg, Nikolai Konstantinovich's interests in the East were so clearly formed that he joined the construction support committee and met Agvan Dorzhiev, a Buddhist scholar and envoy of the Dalai Lama. It is known that Roerich was extremely interested in the problem of finding the common roots of Asia and Russia. Moreover, he found commonality in everything - in beliefs, in art, even in the warehouse of the soul.
In addition to Eastern philosophy, our country, following the West, is en masse carried away by the occult. Among artists, seances have become a very popular pastime. The Roerichs were no exception in this matter - Benois, Diaghilev, Grabar, von Traubenberg often gathered in their apartment on Galernaya to take part in the famous "table-turning". Once the famous European medium Janek, who was summoned to the Northern capital by the Russian emperor, even performed with the Roerichs. Many prominent scientists of that time did not shy away from spiritualistic seances; psychiatrist Vladimir Bekhterev was a frequent guest of the Roerichs.
And yet, in this hobby, Nikolai Konstantinovich differed from the majority - in occultism he saw not just a fashionable and extravagant means to dispel boredom. When one of his comrades - as a rule, the artists Benoit or Grabar - disdainfully spoke of “summoning the spirits,” the always restrained Roerich would stain with indignation. Frowning, he said, "This is an important spiritual phenomenon, and this is where we need to figure it out." In general, "to understand" was his favorite word. However, friends only hid smiles. As for Roerich, he really had no doubt that all his research and cultural activities, all his actions are subordinated to a certain Higher Service.
In 1914, Roerich held a number of charity exhibitions and auctions in support of our wounded soldiers. And in the fall of 1915, at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, he organized the Museum of Russian Art. In March 1917, Nikolai Konstantinovich took part in a meeting of various artists who gathered at Maxim Gorky's apartment. They developed an action plan to protect the country's artistic wealth. In the same year, Roerich refused the post of Minister of Fine Arts proposed by the Provisional Government.
The outbreak of the February Revolution overtook the Roerichs in Karelia, in Serdobol, where they lived in a rented wooden house, standing right in the middle of a pine forest. Nikolai Konstantinovich had to move here with his two sons and a wife from damp and dank St. Petersburg due to the artist's illness. He was diagnosed with pneumonia, which threatened with serious complications. I had to give up the directorship at the school of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. Things were so bad that Roerich prepared a will. Nevertheless, even seriously ill, he continued to paint his paintings.
In 1918, due to the closure of the border between our country and the seceded Finland, the Roerich family was cut off from their homeland, and in March 1919 they moved to England through Sweden and Norway. The Roerichs were not going to live there, Nicholas Roerich was convinced that his path lay to the East. In Asia, he hoped to find answers to the most intimate, "eternal" questions. There, the artist wanted to find confirmation of his hypotheses about the spiritual and cultural ties between the East and Russia. To implement their plans, the Roerichs only needed to acquire visas to India, which, as you know, was a colony of the British crown. However, it turned out to be not so easy to obtain the necessary documents. For months Roerich pounded the thresholds of bureaucratic institutions, insisted, wrote petitions, persuaded, enlisted the help of influential people. In the capital of England, he met old friends - Stravinsky and Diaghilev, and also made new ones, among whom was the outstanding poet and public figure Rabindranath Tagore.
In June 1920, due to an acute shortage of money, Nikolai Konstantinovich accepted an offer from Dr. Robert Harshe of the Chicago Institute of Arts to travel across America on an exhibition tour and earn the funds he needed to travel to India. For three years, Roerich's paintings traveled to twenty-eight cities in the United States, and a huge number of listeners gathered at his lectures on Russian art. By that time, Roerich had formed a new obsession. Having experienced first the First World War, and then the Russian Revolution, he resented the fact that intelligent beings are capable of behaving like "madmen who have lost their human appearance." Roerich developed his own formula for salvation, he said: “Humanity will unite art. … Art is inseparable and one. It has many branches, but one root. " In the fall of 1921, on the initiative of Nikolai Konstantinovich, the following was founded in Chicago: the Association of Artists with the self-explanatory name "The Burning Heart", as well as the Institute of United Arts, which includes sections of architecture, choreography, music, philosophy, and theater. In 1922, again thanks to his efforts, the "Crown of the World" was created - the International Cultural Center, in which artists and scientists from different countries could work and communicate.
In the fall of 1923, Roerich and his family, having finally managed to collect the necessary funds, went to India and on December 2 of the same year arrived in Bombay. From there he went to the Himalayas in the principality of Sikkim. On the slopes of the eastern Himalayas near the city of Darjeeling, according to Nikolai Konstantinovich, the most significant event in his life took place - "he met face to face with the Teachers of the East" of the Teacher of the East or, as they were called in India, Mahatmas (translated as "Great Soul"), were Buddhist adepts of the highest level. This meeting was planned for a long time - while still in America, the Roerichs managed to establish contact with the Buddhist communities and, with their help, reached out to high-ranking lamas.
At the same time, the artist got the idea of organizing the first Central Asian research expedition. In October 1924, Roerich returned to New York for two months to complete the necessary documents and prepare for the campaign. The core of the expedition was actually Roerich himself and his wife, as well as their son Yuri, who by that time had graduated from the Indo-Iranian department of the University of London. In addition to them, the group included Colonel and enthusiast of the East Nikolai Kordashevsky, Doctor Konstantin Ryabinin, who for many years comprehended the secrets of Tibetan medicine, as well as several other like-minded people who are capable and ready to engage in research in various fields: soil science, archeology, geodesy. … As we move forward deep into the lands of Asia, the composition of travelers was constantly changing, someone came, someone left, local residents joined: Buryats, Mongols, Indians. Only the basis was unchanged - the Roerich family.
Mother of the World. Series 1924
Until August 1925, the members of the expedition lived in Kashmir, and then through Ladak in September of the same year they moved to Chinese Turkestan. They moved along an ancient route through Indian lands towards the border with the Soviet Union. On the way, the travelers examined ancient monasteries, studied the most important monuments of art, listened to local traditions and legends, made plans, made sketches of the area, collected botanical and mineralogical collections. In Khotan, during his forced stay, Roerich painted a series of paintings called "Maitreya".
On May 29, 1926, three Roerichs, together with two Tibetans, crossed the Soviet border near Lake Zaisan. And in June of the same year, Nikolai Konstantinovich unexpectedly appeared in Moscow. In the capital, Roerich visited influential Soviet officials - Kamenev, Lunacharsky, Chicherin. To all the questions of old acquaintances who remained in Soviet Russia, the artist calmly answered that he needed to get permission from the authorities to continue the expedition on the lands of the Soviet mountainous Altai.
However, Roerich appeared in Moscow not only for permission to visit Altai. He brought with him two letters from the Teachers of the East, addressed to the Soviet authorities, and a small box containing the sacred land from the places where Buddha Shakyamuni, the legendary founder of Buddhism, was born. He also donated his series of paintings "Maitreya" to Soviet Russia. One of the messages said: “Please accept our greetings. We are sending land to the grave of our brother Mahatma Lenin. " These letters have been in the archives for more than forty years, but in the end they were published. The first letter listed the ideological aspects of communism, close to a certain extent to the spiritual guidelines of Buddhism. Based on this connection, communism was presented as a step towards a more advanced stage of evolution and higher consciousness. The second message to the Mahatmas contained information about more urgent and practical things. They reported that they wanted to negotiate with the Soviet Union on the liberation of British-occupied India, as well as the territories of Tibet, where the British behaved like masters, effectively crushing the local government and forcing local spiritual leaders to leave the country.
Georgy Chicherin, the former People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, immediately reported on Nikolai Konstantinovich and the messages he had delivered to Vyacheslav Molotov, Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. The opportunity for the Soviet state to find allies in Tibet was very tempting. In addition, this indirectly contributed to the solution of the complex political problem of Mongolia's annexation to the USSR. Mongolia was a Buddhist country, and in accordance with tradition, Tibetan hierarchs enjoyed virtually unlimited support there. Chicherin also convinced the party leaders not to hinder Roerich's expedition. Guided by this fact, some biographers of the great artist conclude that in this way Nikolai Konstantinovich was recruited into Soviet intelligence. However, there are no serious grounds for such allegations so far. Roerich conveyed messages and, having carried out his mediating mission, returned to the rest of the expedition members.
With great difficulty the travelers passed through Altai and Barnaul, Irkutsk and Novosibirsk, Ulan Bator and Ulan-Ude. The participants of the campaign moved in cars, sometimes right on the virgin soil. What they did not have to overcome - terrible showers and thunderstorms, mud streams, sandstorms, floods. Living in the constant threat of attack by warlike hill tribes. In August 1927, Roerich's caravan went across the Tibetan plateau to the village of Nagchu. They had to leave the cars, the men got on the horses, and Helena Roerich was carried in a light sedan chair. Swampy plains, "dead" mountains and small lakes were spread all around. Below were echoing and deep gorges, in which an icy wind howled. The horses often stumbled and glided among the bumps. The height was constantly increasing, exceeding four thousand meters. It became difficult to breathe, constantly one of the travelers fell out of the saddle.
In October 1927, a forced camp was organized on the high Tibetan plateau Chantang. Despite the fact that Nikolai Konstantinovich had documents giving him the right to move straight to Lhasa, the Tibetans at the border checkpoint detained the participants in the campaign. In the meantime, a harsh winter set in, which the local population could hardly endure. This forced parking at an altitude of 4650 meters, in a valley blown from all sides by cold, fierce winds, at temperatures reaching -50 degrees Celsius, became a test of endurance, will and composure. Not having permission to sell animals, the caravan participants were forced to contemplate the slow death of camels and horses from cold and hunger. Out of a hundred animals, ninety-two died. Konstantin Ryabinin wrote in his diary: "Today is the seventy-third day of the Tibetan execution, since its duration has long since turned into an execution."
Confucius is fair. 1925
At the end of winter, medicines and money ran out. Five members of the expedition died. All sent news about the disaster were lost in unknown authorities, and none of the travelers knew that there were already reports in the world community about the disappearance of the Roerich expedition without a trace. But people withstood, being at the limit of mental and physical capabilities. The expedition to Lhasa was never allowed, but the caravan, which had been kept at a stop in inhuman conditions for several months (from October 1927 to March 1928), was finally allowed by the Tibetan authorities to move to Sikkim. The Central Asian expedition ended in May 1928 in Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim. Here Roerich's guess was confirmed that the government of Lhasa blocked the further path of his expedition at the direct request of the British special services, who saw the participants in the campaign as Soviet intelligence agents and provocateurs.
During the trip, the most unique scientific material was collected and classified, extensive cartography was compiled, and a number of collections were organized. Any museum in the world could envy the archaeological finds. There were numerous bone and metal buckles, and stylized figurines on bronze and iron. Menhirs and ancient burials were also sketched and measured, and the depth of elaboration and the vastness of philological notes to this day causes admiration and surprise among Tibetologists.
In June 1929 Nikolai Konstantinovich returned to New York with his eldest son. We met him there with great honors. On June 19, a grand reception was organized in honor of the Roerichs. The hall, decorated with the flags of all nations, could not fit everyone - politicians, businessmen, teachers and students of the Roerich School of Arts. Speeches were made to the artist, and the epithets "progressive artist", "the greatest explorer of Asia", "the greatest scientist" were poured from all sides. A few days later, Nicholas Roerich was received by the President of the United States, Herbert Hoover. On October 17, 1929, the Roerich Museum was opened in New York. It was located in the twenty-story skyscraper Master-Building, or otherwise the “Master's House”. The museum itself was located on the ground floor and included more than a thousand paintings by Nikolai Konstantinovich. Above were the Roerich organizations for uniting the art of the whole planet, and even higher were the apartments of the employees.
Melancholy rarely visited this extraordinary energetic and active person. However, it is curious that the more the public extolled him for his "earthly merits," the more Roerich believed that he had never fulfilled the goals prepared for him in life. He never intended to live in America and bathe in the rays of his own glory; Nikolai Roerich returned to the United States only to find funds, documents and permits for a new trip to Asia. Elena Ivanovna did not go to the USA, she remained to wait for her husband in India, where the Roerichs acquired an estate for themselves.
For more than a year, despite all his connections, Nikolai Konstantinovich could not get a visa to India. The same British intelligence was intriguing, as before, fearing the artist's influence on their colony, in which riots had already begun. The proceedings with Roerich's visa reached the size of an international scandal; the Queen of England and the Pope even intervened in the matter. Only in 1931, two years after returning to America, Roerich got the opportunity to meet with his wife.
Their new home was located in the Kulu Valley - one of the most beautiful places on the planet, the cradle of ancient cultural monuments. It stood on a spur of a mountain ridge, was built of stone and had two floors. From its balcony, fabulous views of the source of the Bias River and snowy mountain peaks opened up. And in the summer of 1928, in a neighboring building, located a little higher, the Himalayan Institute for Scientific Research, long conceived by the artist, was opened, which was named "Urusvati", which means "Light of the Morning Star". Formally, this institution was headed by Yuri Roerich. Svyatoslav, the youngest son of the Roerichs, chose the path of his father and became a famous artist. He also lived with his parents in the Kullu Valley. The core of the institute's employees consisted of a handful of like-minded people, but later dozens of scientific societies from Asia, Europe and America were involved in cooperation. The Institute was engaged in processing the results of the first Central Asian expedition, as well as collecting new data. By the way, it was from here that the famous Soviet geneticist Nikolai Vavilov received seeds for his rare botanical collection.
Nikolai Konstantinovich, not losing hope of finding his Shambhala, was eager for a new campaign in Asia. The second, Manchurian Expedition, was eventually financed by Henry Wallace, who was then the United States Secretary of Agriculture. Formally, the purpose of the trip was to collect drought-resistant grasses that grow in abundance in Central Asia and prevent soil erosion. Roerich started his journey in 1935. His route passed through Japan, then China, Manchuria, Inner Mongolia. On April 15, the Banner of Peace hoisted over the expedition camp in the middle of the Gobi sands. All members of the Pan American Union and President Roosevelt on that day signed the Roerich Pact, invented by him even before the revolution in Russia. The main idea of the pact was that the participating countries assumed obligations to protect cultural values during military conflicts.
Despite the not too optimistic mood of Nikolai Konstantinovich during his second trip to Asia, the artist sincerely hoped that he would be able to complete his studies of the protected areas of India. However, there was a misfire again - the Americans turned off the Manchurian expedition and ordered its participants to return. It is known that, having learned this, Roerich, moving away from the parking lot, discharged his revolver into the air with annoyance. He was choked with disappointment, he was far from young (at that time he was 61 years old), and clearly felt that this was his last journey.
At the same time, very curious events were unfolding in the United States. While Roerich was in Manchuria, his former patron, businessman Louis Horsch, began the pre-planned devastation of the Russian artist's museum in New York. He initiated inspections of the tax service, as a result of which Roerich's non-payment of income tax of 48 thousand dollars was revealed. Horsch's behavior in this situation looked more than dishonest, since it was he who was in charge of all the financial affairs of the Roerich family in the United States. In addition, in one night, the swindler took out all the artist's paintings from the museum, changed the locks and ordered the lease of a huge building. The Roerichs, who did not expect such a turn, for several years tried to defend their innocence in the US courts. Unfortunately, they failed not only to prove the ownership of the building, but even to their own art collections. Allegations of numerous deceptions committed by Horsch, such as forgery of Roerich's letters and promissory notes, forgery of papers of the council of attorneys, were also not confirmed in court, in addition, the businessman won private claims against the Roerichs in the amount of over 200 thousand dollars. In 1938, all litigation was concluded in favor of Horsch, and in 1941 in favor of the United States government.
Nikolai Konstantinovich never returned to America. From 1936 until his death, he lived without a break in his estate in India, leading a modest lifestyle. As before, Roerich worked hard. He woke up as usual at five o'clock in the morning and went to his office to see paints and canvases, in the evenings he preferred to write. The financial base of his projects was depleted, and Nikolai Konstantinovich was forced to curtail the activities of "Urusvati" - the Institute of Himalayan Studies was mothballed. And soon the Second World War began. The country was shaken by political passions - the Indians sought to throw off British rule, slogans hung everywhere: "The British get out!" The British fiercely resisted, retaliating with arrests and reprisals against the disobedient. At the same time, the Roerichs were organizing exhibitions and sales of their paintings for the benefit of the Soviet army; on the initiative of Nikolai Konstantinovich, the American-Russian Cultural Association was founded. Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi came to visit the artist for advice.
As a result, the Indian revolution took over. And immediately the independent country began to corrode civil strife among Muslims and Hindus, which threatened to result in a full-scale civil war. In the Roerichs' dwelling, located not far from Kashmir, shots were clearly heard. In the city of Hyderabad in the Shah Manzil Museum, a pogrom was staged by Muslims, which resulted in a fire. A collection of paintings by Nicholas and Svyatoslav Roerichs burned down in it. By 1947, Nikolai Konstantinovich had finally consolidated his decision to return to his homeland - to Russia. Perhaps he realized that his home was still there, and the rest of the world remained a foreign land. In letters to friends, he wrote: “So, to new fields. Full of love for the Great Russian People. However, the artist failed to implement the plans - Roerich died on December 13, 1947. In accordance with ancient Slavic and Indian customs, his body was set on fire.
Elena Ivanovna's application to the Soviet consulate to allow her and her children to return to their homeland was also rejected. She passed away in India in October 1955. In 1957, only Yuri Roerich returned to the USSR, who later became an outstanding orientalist.
