A Colhction o f ~ a c r e & ~ a j i c k .

C o m4 he Esoteric ~ i b r a r y
A NOTE ON THE PAINTINGS OF

N.K.

ROEHICH

Elemire Zolla

Mention was cursorily made i n Joscelyn Godwin's essay (Saint-Yves dlAlveydre and t h e Aqarthian Connection, p a r t 2, i n the Autumn issue) o f the Roerich family, especially of N.K. Roerich, the painter. His teachings can be garnered i n a book which came out i n 1982 w i t h Samuel Weiser i n New York: f a l k does not Cook Rice. A Commentary on the Teaching of Agni Yoga, b y Guru R.H.H. compiled and edited by his disciple. I n i t the claim is put f o r t h teachers of Agni Yoga f o r our age. The t h a t Roerich and his w i f e were idiom of the w r i t i n g is that o f the Theosophical Society. The message t h a t comes through w i l l hardly appeal t o anyone who does n o t share that peculiar taste and jargon; b u t the importance o f N.K. Roerich cannot escape an esotericist who chooses t o focus his work as a painter, which I believe t o be c r u c i a l t o the general issue o f a possible metaphysical p a t h f o r the a r t i s t i n our times. It is announced t h a t n e x t year the Aurora publishing house i n Leningrad w i l l bring out a huge two-volume presentation o f Roerich's paintings, and this should be an event o f the utmost importance, f o r the reasons which I shall seek t o b r i e f l y outline. What strikes one f i r s t i n N.K. Roerich's paintings is an austere, ascetic, and y e t heady intensity. As one takes them slowly in, t h e i r technical subtleties s t a r t unfolding. The dazzling gamut o f colours appears t o b e s t r i c t l y keyed t o deep violet n o t the flower's velvety plush, b u t the sleek glaze o f amethysts. One notices also that t h e superb, unassuming draughtsmanship is playing strange games w i t h us. We are made t o f e e l t h a t each stone is pressed down upon the earth by i t s unwieldy, harsh, crushing mass, and y e t a t the same time outlines are threaded out so neatly, so finely, t h a t the most towering shapes seem t o be weightless, i n suspension, as i f p a r t of a scenario. Eventually we become aware o f the complexities o f t h e lighting. A l l kinds o f illumination are drawn upon. Sunshine, f r o m glowing orange and regal purple t o stealthy t w i l i g h t mauve. A steely moonlight. Starlight. the peculiar B u t also a unique range o f uncanny nightworld luminescences greens o f burning coals, t h e f a i n t glimmer a t the heart o f onyxes and black diamonds, t h e silvery linings o f i c e and snow i n lightless crevices, t h e blue scintillation o f sugar crushed i n the dark. And the ground o f a l l these e f f e c t s is sheer, c r y s t a l translucency - Roerich's famous high Himalayan terseness. His secret is the use o f pure colours. Our eye is no longer used t o them, we are glutted w i t h centuries o f dirty, indeterminate, mixed-up tints. One might w e l l imagine Roerich worrying over a speck o f dust on his paints, never using the same turpentine twice. When absorbed i n his scenery, we feel as i f we breathed thin, intoxicating air, and we realise t h a t a power-laden disclosure is being urged upon us. The hard, solemn and dazzling l i g h t is requesting o f us t h a t we strain our attention to the utmost; i t is in the process of conveying something of ultimate importance. I n f a c t these pictures carry a d e f i n i t e meaning: they open up vistas for us i n our inwardness. This again is something w e are no longer used t o i n painting. We no longer expect the a r t i s t to be a metaphysician, since the Hermetic since the last schools o f canonical icon-painting i n Russia. As Renaissance a matter of fast, Roerich executed traditional Byzantine frescos, b u t what

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concerns us most is that he achieved the same spiritual aims o f the icon i n his ordinary, non-canonical painting, through the stark purity of his lighting. A word of caution to anyone who may feel carried away by Roerich's a r t may here be in order. He implied that the commonly accepted history of 20th century a r t is u t t e r l y false. He used the word "snobbish". What is more, the very grain of his brush-work involves as much. I t is generally assumed t h a t the pivotal experience i n Russian 20th century painting was Kandinsky's, as he progressed from early symbolism t o his confrontation i n Munich w i t h t r i b a l art, eventually leading him t o plunge into the abstract. The whole of our current modern a r t history hinges on our belief t h a t Kandinsky's experience was n o t only fatal, b u t crucial t o a l l and every one. But what happens i f we hold Roerich's achievement above Kandinsky's and e f f e c t a switch of paradigms? We are bound t o do so, i f w e parallel their lives. B o t h started by seeking f o r their archaic Russian roots. I n Kandinsky's case this l e d t o p r e t t y f o l k scenes. A p a r t from his r o l e i n Stravinsky's Sacre, Roerich re-created forecefully pre-Christian Rus i n a haunting set of pictures. One o f them is his 1902 Idols (at the Russian Museum i n Leningrad) - twisted damp greenish totem poles surround a huge grey stone w i t h i n an ominous circular palisade hung w i t h pale yellowing horse skulls, a t a river-loop. It is a masterpiece o f magical evocation. Both artists subsequently faced t h e challenge o f e x o t i c arts. Kandinsky and t h e Blaue R e i t e r group reacted by going abstract. When Roerich came t o New Y o r k i n 1920, h e purposely juxtaposed a t his Center, Corona Italian and Flemish Renaissance, t h e Russian icon, Tibetan and American Indian art, as strands which i t is the modern task t o weave into a new global pattern. B u t t o dare as much one needs a place oneself from a metaphysical coign o f vantage. A l l Kandinsky had was a simplistic variety o f theosophical ideas. There are many approaches t o Roerich's point of view. What he stated i n l i n e and colour would not stand much t o gain by being p u t i n t o dry scholastic jargon. I happened t o be side-tracked i n t o his world during a journey t h a t took me from South Indian shrines t o Benares. A t t h e Theosophical Society i n Adyar I f e l t drawn t o the meanings hinted a t i n his painting hanging there, showing a "mysterious guest" emerging out o f the Himalayan dusk. A t the journey's end, I came upon the roomful of Roerichs a t the Banares Hindu University Museum: Himalayan peaks and abysses, grandiosely sweeping slopes, and, daring a l l t h e i r crushing immensity, a meditating solitary man, o r a sculpted stone, o r a c i r c l e o f Druid-like stones, o r a shrine. The clouds above seem t o be gathering into the shape o f a horseman: He, t h e K i n g o f Shambala. Roerich w r o t e a powerful essay on Himalayan myths - t h a t o f middle-aged Jesus i n Kashmir, and t h a t of the Empire-bestowing cup o f the Grail, scooped out of a meteorite, t h e appurtenance of Timur and Akbar. What he seemed determinedly bent on spreading was the myth o f Shambhala. Be t h a t what it may, what counts is that he turned the archetype o f the Reedemer and his Holy Land i n t o a living vision a t the touch of his brush-stroke. He o f f e r s us thereby an opportunity t o pass through his pictures from the a c t u a l t o the potential or archetypal level of being. But i f above even this we are able to feel, and t o love the quartz l i g h t itself, which evokes the whole archetypal scenario out of the bosom o f violet darkness, and i f we finally reach the point where we meltingly identify w i t h that light, then we shall have achieved what "enlightenment" l i t e r a l l y denotes.