Elena Stanislavovna Kulakova

Candidate of Art Criticism, President of Novokuznetsk city Roerich Society, Head of the Roerichs’ Public Museum in the Library named after D.S. Likhachov Russia, Novokuznetsk

The Image of Nicholas Roerich as the Culture Leader in Svetoslav Roerich’s Creative Work

A Russian artist, Professor Nikolay Roerich considered Culture as a creative spirit, reviving the body of mechanical civilization. He saw the main engine of mankind, progress, the way to peace and mutual understanding of the peoples in it. In 1920 the artist wrote in his article "Adamant", "Creation is a pure pray of spirit, Art is the heart of people, Knowledge is the brain of people. The humanity can unite and understand each other only with the help of the heart and wisdom" [1]. In this article Roerich adduces also the words about the meaning of art of two great sons of India – a philosopher Swami Vivekananda and a poet Rabindranath Tagore. Swami Vivekananda says: "That man cannot be truly religious, who has not the faculty of feeling the beauty and grandeur of art"; "Non appreciation of art is cross ignorance". And the words of Rabindranath Tagore: "In art the person in us is sending its answer to the Supreme person, who reveals Himself to us in a world of endless beauty across the lightless world of facts" [2]. At the end of his article Roerich addresses to the readers with the appeal unite in spirit in the name of the beauty and knowledge.

This appeal of the artist to the whole mankind in an offered international document the Pact of the protection of cultural values is rung with the new strength. The Roerich pact was signed 75 years ago in Washington, on April 15, 1935 by the representatives of several countries. After the ceremony of signing the US President Franklin Roosevelt said that the "Roerich Pact" contained much deeper spiritual meaning than that expressed in the text. The text gives possibility to realize one of the main living principles – the preservation of the modern civilization [3].

Professor Roerich was sure that the Culture can change the inner world of a person and life itself. He was an example of a wise teacher, who consciously spiritualized everyday life with Culture which became Pranoyama of perfection [4].

Professor Svetoslav Roerich embodied his father in many portraits, created in the 1920s - 1940s. In those portraits Nikolay Roerich was immortalized in all his inner nature and he appeared in front of the spectators as the Culture leader and a wise teacher of life. We see the creator of the Pact in two portraits near the coat of arms of the Roerich’s family and the Sign of the Banner of Peace. One of these portraits is kept in the Roerich’s estate in the Kulu valley, India. Looking at the strong, inspired artist’s face we hear his pray to the heart of each of us – to make the Beauty a pillar of our lives.

On the portrait of 1937 he was captured on the background of a large tanka with the image of a female deity. The image of a goddess merges with the image of Elena Roerich the painter′s "close friend, helpmate and inspirer". She took an active part in husband′s affaires and played an important role in the Pact′s approval. Elena and Nikolay Roerich together chaired the Standing Committee of the Roerich Pact and Banner of Peace in New York, the Latvian Society named after Roerich and the European Centre in Paris. Svetoslav Roerich marked that his father "was much obliged to a wide communication and friendship with women, whose delicate souls recognized him as a leader" [5]. First of all it was Elena Roerich - his wife and a brave collaborator – who as it is known, was the first woman, having overcome the incredible dangers and difficulties during the travelling across the Himalayas. "When she was in Tibet with her husband she was treated as Tara, a goddess" [6], Svetoslav Roerich remembered. Precisely as Tara-inspirer she is presented in Nikolay Roerich’s portrait which is kept in the Latvian State Museum. The colourful range of the portrait, painted in deep violet and lilac tones create a special spiritual atmosphere.

India became the second homeland for Nikolay Roerich and his family. The painter loved this country and knew its history very well. He thought that the spiritual culture of India and that of Russia have common points of view and common roots. The bonds of friendship and cooperation which arose in the past, will grow stronger and it is very important for the present and the future. Nikolay Roerich wrote: "The heart of India strives to vast Russia. The great Indians magnet attracts Russian hearts. It is the truth that "the Altai – the Himalayas" – are two magnets, two balances, two foundations. It is joyful to see the vitality in the Indo-Russian connections. The beauty is in the Indo-Russian magnet. The heart reports the news to the heart" [7].

The second part of Nikolay Roerich′s life was closely connected with the Himalayas, which were not the place of privacy for him, but the tribune for a life-leader. Many wise thoughts and fiery words addressed to people came from the place in the way of helping, warning, cautioning people and provoking their best aspirations. "There is a deep spiritual idea in all his works, - wrote Theodore Helling, the painter′s biographer. – They are like a message or the revelation of supreme forces. Each of them and all of them were rated for humanity′s promotion towards the spiritual awaking" [8].

Svetoslav Roerich created several portraits of his father on the Himalayas′ solemn grandeur background, so similar to high aspirations of his father′s spirit. "None of the artists painted mountains like my father, - Svetoslav Roerich said. – His Himalayas radiate the incomparable wealth of light, beauty, untold greatness, high ideas, which are the symbol of the word "the Himalayas". He really deserves the title “The Master of the mountains”" [9].

In his son′s portraits Nickolay Roerich is shown in the spiritual unity with the world of the Mountain Empire as a man who opened his divine Nature and reached the top of giant Spirit. Reserved power, coming from him, merges the grandeur of the Himalayas′ nature and fills up all around. White and blue colours of eternal snow, combined with colour spots of violet and lilac on the mountain slopes, intensify the spiritual atmosphere of loftiness and purity. There is eternity and infinity of the Space in Nikolay Roerich′s image which was created by his son, because the painter was able to introduce the elements of immortality into his versatile culture and art work. - The Pact of the protection of artistic institutions is the brightest example of it.

The modern researcher of the creative heritage of the Roerichs family, the academician Lyudmila Shaposhnikova marks: "The Comprehension of the role of man in Space as a carrier of spirit testifies about a completely new paradigm and new approaches to the research of man as such" [10]. Exactly such approach is inherent to Svetoslav Roerich′s creativity. Following it, the artist opens one of the most important rules of philosophy of cosmic reality which became the basis of the lives of all the members of this unusual family. Svetoslav Roerich represented the spiritual character of the father in his portraits through the transmission of his greatness, significance and beauty which are so close to the ideals of the artists of the Renaissance. Thus, the colour and the light in his paintings become the powerful expressions of spiritual sense, and as Nikolay Roerich said, "They create some completely special realism inherent to him". "Certainly, this realism most likely can be called as reality, but not as conditional realism at all, as it was understood in the recent past" [11]. It "consists not in simple plausibility, but it is the expression of intrinsic reality", - the doctor P.V. Ragamanar emphasizes [12].

Svetoslav Roerich used the diversified compositional schemes working on the creation of the father′s image. It is the portrait of the head, and to the shoulders, and also as far as the chest zone, as far as the waist, to the knees and in height. The author depicts his model in different states - in the state of contemplation or reflection, the heroic tension of spirit or internal aspiration to the creative action. "In each of these works there is certain luminescence, amazingly real in terms of the characteristic of the image equally pulsing in his almost tangible shining and in the embodiment of spiritual character. These works are really worthy of their subject!" [13], - Francis Grant marks.

Nikolay Roerich was the man of synthesis. In his life he managed to connect science, art and religion in their individual and joint service to mankind. He expressed this task with words – peace through culture. That is the culture which comprises art, science and religion, the culture acting like Trinity in the unity. The Banner of Peace, the Banner of Culture offered by the artist became the symbol of this unity. "The wide field of the creative expression of a man - Art with its numerous displays was the alive bridge for him, becoming closer and uniting mankind, - Svetoslav Roerich said. It is the miracle connection which allows to find out and forge the new approaches, new opportunities and open new prospects of the original consent and mutual understanding" [14].

The synthesis of Nikolay Roerich was shown in his creativity and life so that he could naturally connect rational thinking of West to spiritually contemplating vision of East. The Teaching of Living Ethics or the Philosophy of Cosmic Reality which was the first Teaching of East, which realizes itself through the science of West became the source of such approach. Still in the 19th century Swami Vivekananda stated that the regeneration of mankind will take place through harmonization and connection of two types of people – eastern and western ones. You see, the ideal of an eastern man is the spiritual world, and the ideal of a western man is the external, material world. "When an eastern man wants to study engineering, he should sit near the legs of a western man and be taught by him. When a Europian wants to learn something about the spirit, about the God, about the soul and to find out the meaning and the mystery of the Universe he should address East to get the explanation, and he should be taught by East" [15], - Vivekananda says. The machines will never make a man happy. Only the one who follows the voice of his spirit can be happy.

The Central - Asian expedition of Nikolay Roerich in 1923 – 1928 became an important step on the way to realization of synthesis of European science and eastern idea. The discoveries made during the expedition, allowed to the artist to show that the culture of East and the culture of West have the most ancient common source which is necessary to search in the East. He was convinced that the first migrations flowed from East to West, and thus they fed the European culture and formed its primary base. "It is possible to see that West and East think adequately in many directions" [16], he marks. And in the sketch “The Son of the king” he says: "During the times when East and West are conditionally opposed, the life itself forms the bases for uniform wisdom" [17].

Nikolay Roerich carried out in himself the synthesis of eastern and western thinking. Svetoslav Roerich showed this side of his personality in his portraits where he depicted his father in the eastern costume. The works are painted basically as a portrait-picture with the usage of ornamental, architectural and multifigured background bearing the certain semantic loading. One of the most significant works is "The portrait of Nikolay Roerich in a Tibetan attire". It was painted in 1933 and it belongs to the collected covasses of N.K. Roerich Museum in Moscow. The author created the image of an outstanding person "a perfect sample of a man, for whom life became a way towards perfection and great feat, high serving" [18]. Endurance and self-control, balanced harmony and humanity are present in the character of Nikolay Roerich. A Tibetan attire of the model and an architectural background with the palace of Potala in Lkhasa specify his deep knowledge of the culture of East, about which he brightly and figuratively told the people of West. According to the academician Lyudmila Shaposhnikova, Nikolay Roerich "took an active part, maybe, in the most important energetic process of our century, in the creation of the synthetic teaching which was acceptable by both West and by East. In our century he brought the call of East to West. And he succeded in making to hear it" [19]. Using picturesque techniques which are characteristic of orthodox icon painting, such as a return prospect in the depiction of buildings, a frontal arrangement of a figure occupying the central position on the canvas, an uncertain source of light, the artist combined them with the Tibetan architecture and buddhistic symbols. This feature allocates the portrait among others, created by Svetoslav Roerich.

"Nikolay Konstantinovich all his life wanted to unite people, countries in the field of Culture, - Svetoslav Roerich said. – He considered that only Culture is that main base where the mankind can be united" [20]. Being the artist, the thinker and the peacemaker he became the true conductor of Culture for all the peoples of the Earth calling to bring Culture of spirit to the everyday rhythm of life. Light Image of the founder of the Pact of Cultural Values Preservation, the proclaimer of peace and good will among people, with large dignity and love is extolled "in the epos of the great son about the great father", in which there was embodied the image of the wise Teacher of Life for the future generations.

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1. Рерих Н.К. Адамант // Н.К. Рерих. О Вечном… М.: Издательство «Республика», 1994. С. 104.
2. Там же.
3. Культурные, политические, общественные деятели о значении Пакта Рериха и Знамени Мира // Культура и время. – 2005. - № 3. С. 4.
4. Рерих Н.К. Адамант // Н.К. Рерих. О Вечном… М.: Издательство «Республика», 1994. С. 110.
5. Рерих Святослав. Врата в высшую жизнь. М.: Международный Центр Рерихов, 2009. С. 33.
6. Там же.
7. Рерих Н.К. Русь - Индия // Н.К. Рерих. Листы дневника. В 3 т. Т. 3. М.: Международный Центр Рерихов, 1996. С. 199.
8. Хеллин Теодор. Голос эпохи // Держава Рериха. М.: Международный Центр Рерихов, 1992. С. 43.
9. Рерих С.Н. Стремиться к Прекрасному. М.: Международный Центр Рерихов, 1993. С. 75.
10. Шапошникова Л.В. Философия Космической Реальности // Л.В. Шапошникова. Держава Рерихов: Статьи и выступления: В 2 т. Т. 1. М.: Международный Центр Рерихов, 2006. С. 322.
11. Рерих Н.К. Листы дневника. В 3 т. Т. 1. М.: Международный Центр Рерихов, 1995. С. 443.
12. Рерих С.Н. Искусство и жизнь. М.: Международный Центр Рерихов, 2004. С. 315.
13. Там же. С. 301.
14. Рерих Святослав. Врата в высшую жизнь. М.: Международный Центр Рерихов, Мастер-Банк, 2009. С. 196, 199.
15. Вивекананда С. Мой Учитель. Минск, 1990. С. 5.
16. Рерих Н.К. Шамбала сияющая // Н.К. Рерих. Восток-Запад. М.: Международный Центр Рерихов, 1994. С. 49.
17. Рерих Н.К. Сын царя // Н.К. Рерих. Восток-Запад. М.: Международный Центр Рерихов, 1994. С. 28.
18. Рерих С.Н. Стремиться к Прекрасному. М.: Международный Центр Рерихов, 1993. С. 74.
19. Шапошникова Л. Магический мост синтеза // Н.К. Рерих. Восток-Запад. М.: Международный Центр Рерихов, 1994.
20. Рерих С.Н. Стремиться к Прекрасному. М.: Международный Центр Рерихов, 1993. С. 80.

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• The Roerich Pact and the Banner of Peace as a Remarkable Phenomenon of the World Culture
Reports and Speeches at the International Social and Scientific Conference.
Delhi – Kullu – Shimla – Kalimpong October 22– November 5 2010