April 24, at the «Russian bid» Christie's will display the work of Nicholas and Svetoslav Roerich

Russian auction auction house Christie's, which will be held April 24, 2009 , will include ten of the brush Nicholas Nicholas Roerich and his son Svyatoslav Roerich , as well as works by David Burliuk and Paul Chelischeva .

Nikolai Roerich (1874-1947) - a prominent Russian thinker, artist and writer - was born on October 9, 1874 in St. Petersburg. In 1893, he simultaneously enrolled in the Law Faculty of St. Petersburg University and the Imperial Academy of Arts. From 1906 to 1917 Nicholas Roerich was the director of the School of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of Arts. In the period from 1910 to 1916 was a member of the artistic association «world of art», of Serge Diaghilev (Roerich was the author of a series of scenery for performances troupe «Russian ballet»). After the February Revolution of 1917 Nicholas Roerich was a member of the Commission on the Arts, created by Gorky. Soon, the artist moved to Karelia, near the border with Finland, where he and his family and moved in early 1918.

In mid-1919 Roerichs moved to London, and after the invitations received from the Director of the Chicago Institute of Arts, the fall of 1920 - in the United States, which has organized a series of exhibitions. In the United States Roerichs remained until 1923. In 1924 Nicholas Roerich went to a scientific expedition to Central Asia. The route of the expedition passed through Sikkim, Kashmir, Ladak, China (Xinjiang), Russia (with check-in Moscow), Siberia, Altai, Mongolia, Tibet, and unexplored areas of the Himalayas.

The majority of works painted by Nicholas Roerich, Russian put on auction April 24, 2009, it refers to the period of this remarkable expedition, which lasted from 1924 to 1928. Landscape «The greatest and holy Tangla» series «Shambala» (1929) - one of the eight survived to our day of mountain landscape Rerikh of this cycle (estimeyt 300-500 thousand dollars). This hit the canvas in the collection of the present owner in 1975. Among other works relating to the expedition, it should be noted picture «Himalayas» (150-200 thousand dollars); «Sharugon Monastery, Tibet» (40-60 thousand dollars). It was also interesting to canvas «Fortress Gessar Khan» (80-120 thousand dollars). Gessar Khan - is a legendary hero, the new incarnation of which, according to the Buddhists, will destroy all evil on earth. This legend Rerikh heard as early as childhood, and later returned to it often in his works.

• Nicholas Roerich Lot number 312
  The greatest and holy Tangla
  Landscape from the cycle «Shambala». 1929. Tempera on canvas
  Estimeyt: 300-500 thousand dollars
• Nicholas Roerich Lot number 312
  The greatest and holy Tangla
  Landscape from the cycle «Shambala». 1929. Tempera on canvas
  Estimeyt: 300-500 thousand dollars

During the Roerich expedition visited a number of Tibetan dzongov - fortified Buddhist monasteries (which are usually at the time had housed the city administration). One such dzongov and depicted on the same canvas painted by Roerich (150-200 thousand dollars). At the auction will also be exhibited work «stone relief depicting Buddha» 1928 (250-350 thousand dollars).

The first portrait of his son Nicholas Roerich Svetoslav Roerich (1904-1993) wrote in the 13-year-old, and when he was 15, he had helped his father create designs for decorations for productions in London Covent Garden. While the Roerich family lived in New York, Svetoslav studied at the architectural department of Columbia University, but interest in the painting is not lost. In 1923, New York, in the Arden Gallery, held his first solo exhibition, after which he went with his family in an expedition to Central Asia. Upon returning to New York Svetoslav continued his education and took part in the management of cultural and educational institutions associated with the name of Nicholas Roerich. Over time, interest Svyatoslav Roerich in eastern culture and only increased in 1931, finishing his studies, he moved from the United States to India with his family.

• Nicholas Roerich Lot number 314
  Fog. Approx. 1917. Wood, tempera
  Estimeyt: 30-50 thousand dollars
• Nicholas Roerich Lot number 314
  Fog. Approx. 1917. Wood, tempera
  Estimeyt: 30-50 thousand dollars

Brushes Svyatoslav Roerich belongs to a large number of outstanding portraits. Among the most famous of the made in India - the portraits of Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, who are now in the Central Hall of Parliament of India in New Delhi.

«Portrait of Nicholas Roerich in Tibetan attire» (0,9-1,1 million) was written several years after moving to India in Svyatoslav 1933. Cloth passes not only his respect for his father, but also stresses his unique technique of painting a portrait: the allocation of some parts and leveling other. In 1942 Svetoslav wrote that the portrait should send «those traits and characteristics accents, which are the most revealing, most worthy of memorization, and either delete or soften features, which can distract from a» (Svetoslav Roerich. «Portrait Painting». Creative thinking : Articles of Svyatoslav Roerich. Moscow, 2004. p. 81).

• Nicholas Roerich Lot number 316
  Outline for the cycle «Ladoga». Approx. 1918. Paper, pastel. Estimeyt: 30-50 thousand dollars
• Nicholas Roerich Lot number 316
  Outline for the cycle «Ladoga». Approx. 1918. Paper, pastel. Estimeyt: 30-50 thousand dollars

«Portrait of Nicholas Roerich's attire in the Tibet» regarded as one of the most significant works in the creative legacy of the artist. Svetoslav Roerich depicted his father, using the painting techniques, characteristic of Orthodox iconography - is the reverse perspective in the image of buildings in the background, the frontal image of a figure, an indefinite source of light, the central figures of a dominant position on the canvas. It is these techniques in conjunction with the architecture of the temple, and Tibetan Buddhist symbols distinguish the portrait from a number of other established Svyatoslav Roerich.

Initially, the canvas was in the house Ralph Harris of Houston. Later it belonged to John Kurttsu of Bingemptona. The present owner of the picture was acquired from Kurttsa in 1982 and exhibited in New York Roerich Museum from 1990 to 2009.

Source: Press Releases Christie's

works of Paul Chelischeva bids April 24, can be read here .

works of David Burliuk bids April 24, can be read here .

• Nicholas Roerich Lot number 317A
  Sharugon Monastery, Tibet. 1928. Tempera on canvas
  Estimeyt: 40-60 thousand dollars
• Nicholas Roerich Lot number 317A
  Sharugon Monastery, Tibet. 1928. Tempera on canvas
  Estimeyt: 40-60 thousand dollars

• Nicholas Roerich Lot number 319
  Dzong. Tempera on canvas
  Estimeyt: 150-200 thousand dollars
• Nicholas Roerich Lot number 319
  Dzong. Tempera on canvas
  Estimeyt: 150-200 thousand dollars