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	Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York. 1929 – 1938

In 1920, N. Roerich got an invitation from the Director of the Chicago Institute of Arts to organize a big exhibition tour around 30 cities of the USA. Nicholas Roerich accepted that invitation, and left London together with his family.

N. Roerich was included in the galaxy of those few thinkers of the 20th century who deeply understood the true significance of Culture, its determining role in the development of mankind. “Culture rests on Beauty and Knowledge”[2,  p. 60], he wrote, and repeated Dostoyevsky’s famous phrase with a little modification: “Comprehension of Beauty will save the world”[3, p.50]. This formulation covers practically the whole essence of cosmic evolution which moves from chaos to order, from the simple to the complicated, from system to Beauty. Beauty is only cognized by man through Culture, integral part of which is creative work. This was also discussed in the Living Ethics books, in creation of which the Roerichs directly participated. Helena Roerich put in writing, and Nicholas Roerich perpetuated in beautiful artistic images the Living Ethics cosmic ideas.

Putting into practice these ideas, N. Roerich conducted wide cultural and educational activities in America. In November of 1921, the Master Institute of United Arts was opened in New York, the main purpose of which was to bring peoples together through culture and art. Almost at the same time, artists association “Cor Ardens” (“Blazing Hearts”) was established in Chicago, and in 1922, the International Cultural Center “Corona Mundi” (“Crown of the World”) appeared. In 1923, Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York opened its doors, it contained a richest collection of the artist’s paintings. Founded by Nicholas Roerich institutions became major centers of culture in America, uniting many famous workers of art.

N. Roerich. Kullu. 1930s

n the same year of 1923, the master’s cherished dream came true – on December 2, N. Roerich and his family arrived in India. There, preparation for the most important travel in the life of the great artist started – expedition to the difficult of access areas of Central Asia. These areas had for a long time attracted the attention of N. Roerich not only as a painter, but as a scientist interested in a number of problems related to ancient peoples’ world migrations, and search for a common source of Slavic and Indian cultures. Beside purely scientific goals, the expedition pursued an important evolutionary task. The expedition extremely difficult itinerary ran through Sikkim, Kashmir, Ladakh, China (Sintzian), Russia (including Moscow), Siberia, Altai, Mongolia, Tibet, unstudied areas of Trans Himalayas. This unique expedition significance and results have not been appreciated to the full by the modern geographic science until today. And as a matter of fact, having realized Przhevalsky and Kozlov’s dream, Nicholas Roerich’s expedition became the triumph of Russian studies in Central Asia. In terms of its itinerary uniqueness and collected materials, it can justly claim for a special place among major expeditions of the 20th century. The travel lasted from March 1925 to May 1928. For the first time, dozens of new mountain peaks and passes were marked on maps, archeological monuments were discovered, rarest manuscripts were found. Enormous scientific materials were collected, books were written (“The Heart of Asia”, “Altai – Himalayas”), about five hundred paintings were created, on which the artist perpetuated a peculiar and surprising world, the world of high beauty.

After the expedition ended in July of 1928, N. Roerich founded the Institute of Himalayan Studies “Urusvati” what means in translation from Sanskrit “The Light of the Morning Star”. In the same place, the valley of Kulu in Western Himalayas, Nicholas Roerich and his family found their home. There, in India, the artist’s last period of life passed.

In 1934 - 1935, Nicholas Roerich headed an expedition to the areas of Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, and China, organized by the US Ministry of Agriculture with the purpose of study of drought resistant plants.

During the time he was in the expedition, the President of Nicholas Roerich New York Museum and N. Roerich’s authorized representative, American businessman Louis Horch, having falsified the documents and slandered his Teacher, illegally seized the block of shares belonging to the Museum and proclaimed himself its owner. He secretly moved out the paintings, part of which he kept for himself. Most canvases were sold at an auction and are still decorating private American collections. After some time, devoted to the Roerichs museum workers acquired new premises for the Museum and bought out considerable part of paintings.

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