Svetoslav Roerich

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Svetoslav Roerich

Svetoslav (Sviatoslav) Roerich ( Russian Светослав (Святослав) Рерих ; born October 10 . Jul / 23. October  1904 . Greg in St. Petersburg ; † 30th January 1993 in Bangalore ) was a Russian - Indian painter .

Life

Roerich's parents were the painter and philosopher Nicholas Roerich and the writer Helena Roerich . Roerich began to paint and model at an early age, he attended the school of the Imperial Society for the Advancement of the Arts in St. Petersburg and found an interest in natural science . In 1913 he was accepted into Karl Johann May's grammar school, where he received his first drawing lessons . He helped his father stretch the canvases and mix the colors, and his father often took him with him on archaeological excursions to old Russian cities. During the First World War , the family moved to Finland in 1916 , where Roerich painted the first portrait of his father.

1919 Roerich began in London a Architecture -Studies at the Royal Academy of Arts . In addition, he continued to paint and, together with his father, took part in the stage designs for the operas Snow Maiden , Sadko and Prince Igor .

Roerich continued his architecture studies in the USA in 1920 at Columbia University with a bachelor's degree and then at Harvard University . At the same time he studied at the University of Massachusetts Boston in the sculpture department. In addition, he dealt with painting , book illustration and graphics . From 1923 he directed the international art center Corona Mundi, founded by his father, and became Vice President of the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York . Then he traveled to India . In 1924 he returned to the USA and took part in the work of his parents' cultural organizations. He also supported the work of his brother Yuri , who carried out an expedition to Central Asia . He continued to paint, and his first solo exhibition at New York's Arden Gallery made him known to the public. In 1926, at the Sesquicentennial Exposition in Philadelphia , about 100 of his works were shown and he was awarded a Grand Prix.

After graduating in 1931, Roerich finally settled with his parents in India, which became his second home. In addition to landscapes, he painted many portraits, including about 30 portraits of his father. The life-size portraits of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi adorn the walls of the historic central hall of the Indian Parliament in New Delhi . He participated in the work of the Urusvati Institute founded by his father to research the history, flora and fauna of the Himalayan region and headed the natural science department.

In 1941, at the beginning of the German-Soviet War , Roerich wanted to join the Red Army , but the Soviet ambassador in London refused. He donated funds from the sale of paintings to the Red Cross of the USSR. In 1944 he met the film actress Devika Rani while working on a film , and in 1945 they married in the Kullu Valley. All 365 temples in the valley sent representatives to the wedding.

After India gained independence in 1947, Roerich negotiated with the Indian government to sign the Roerich Pact , which was signed in August 1948. As a result, Roerich was very committed to the preservation and protection of Indian cultural monuments. In 1948 he and his wife bought the 135 hectare Tataguni estate from a British man , 20 km from Bangalore . He always dreamed of turning this property into a cultural and scientific center.

Exhibition catalog by SR Ramaswamy

Roerich stayed repeatedly in the USSR. The first exhibition of his pictures in the USSR took place in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow in 1960 . Months later the pictures were on view in the St. Leningrad Hermitage .

Roerich was always interested in the problems of educating man to the highest perfection. He participated in the work of the school in Bangalore, which was founded in 1962 on the basis of the ideas of Aurobindo Ghose , and also supported the school financially from 1977. In 1972 Roerich founded the art education center Chitrakala Parishad in Bangalore , of which he was honorary president and part of the university there.

In 1974 Roerich from Switzerland brought 42 pictures from his father's architecture series donated by Katherine Campbell-Stibbe to the USSR and handed them over to the Ministry of Culture. Campbell-Stibbe later donated around 100 pictures of father and son Roerich to the USSR. In 1974 the 100th birthday of his father Roerichs was celebrated in the USSR. In addition, Roerich brought 288 pictures of himself and his father from India for the exhibition in Moscow, which were then shown at a traveling exhibition in the country according to his wishes. In 1984, on the 110th birthday of his father and his 80th birthday, Roerich and his wife took part in a three-day international conference in Moscow dedicated to the Roerichs' contribution to world culture. To this end, it was decided to found a NK Roerich Museum in Moscow. In 1987 Roerich was received by Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife Raisa Gorbachev in the Kremlin . In 1989 the Soviet Roerich Foundation was founded with Raissa Gorbatschowa . Roerich traveled to Moscow for the last time. In 1990 he contributed part of the family estate to the foundation.

Roerich was buried on the Tataguni estate, as was his wife later next to him. A few months after Roerich's death, in 1993 the Russian government decided to found the State NK Roerich Museum as a branch of the State Museum of Oriental Art , which opened in 1997.

The main belt asteroid (4426) Roerich , which was discovered on October 15, 1969 by Lyudmila Ivanovna Tschernych from the Crimean observatory , was named after the Roerich family .

Honors, prizes (selection)

Web links

Commons : Svetoslav Roerich  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h International Roerich Memorial Trust: Svetoslav Nikolayevich Roerich (accessed August 25, 2017).
  2. ↑ В.А. Скумин, О.К. Ауновская: Светоносцы (о семье Рерихов) . Терос, Novocheboksarsk , 1995, ISBN 5-88167-004-3 .
  3. ↑ a b Svetoslav Nicholaevich "Slava" Roerich (accessed on August 25, 2017).
  4. ↑ a b c d The Roerich & Devika Rani Roerich Estate Board: Svetoslav Roerich (accessed August 25, 2017).
  5. ↑ International Center of the Roerichs (accessed August 25, 2017).
  6. ↑ РЕРИХИ - ПРОВОЗВЕСТНИКИ НОВОЙ ЭПОХИ (accessed August 25, 2017).
  7. ↑ Становление Музея (accessed August 25, 2017).
  8. ↑ (4426) Roerich at minorplanetcenter.org
  9. ^ Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India: Padma Awards (accessed August 25, 2017).
personal data
SURNAME Roerich, Svetoslav
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Рерих, Святослав Николаевич (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian-Indian painter
DATE OF BIRTH October 23, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Petersburg
DATE OF DEATH January 30, 1993
Place of death Bangalore