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Svetoslav Nikolayevich Roerich (1904 - 1993)
“What we notice in Svetoslav’s paintings is the harmonious intensity of all parts of the painting. The great quality of pieces of art, if only indifference did not creep into them. <…> It is wonderful if this high gift is given in life, thanks to it, all the dark, all the miserable turns into the happiness of spirit. And how happily we must welcome those who by the will of fate can bring the beautiful to life!”[1, p.443-444]
N. Roerich
Svetoslav Roerich was born on October 23, 1904 in Saint-Petersburg, with which the first twelve years of his life were associated. In his early childhood, the boy already showed interest for natural sciences which was harmoniously interwoven with inborn artistic abilities.
“I was very interested in ornithology, zoology, Svetoslav Roerich recollected. – Helena Roerich collected for me all the necessary books whichever she could find. She bought for us stuffed birds, raised collections of insects, bugs. Besides, I was attracted by beautiful stones, mineralogy. She also collected for me all kinds of the Urals and other stones. <…> Thus, our little world was at that time saturated with wonderful impressions”[2, p.54]. Svetoslav early started drawing and took up molding, attended classes of the Arts Encouragement Society School, created designs for home theatre productions, and even helped his father in his work on theatre design sketches. In 1913, he entered the Karl May Gymnasium in Saint-Petersburg where he studied until 1916.
From 1919, Svetoslav Roerich studied architecture in London, in the Royal Academy of Arts, and in a year, he continued his education in the USA, first in the school of the Columbian, and then Harvard Universities, simultaneously attending the Massachusetts University Sculpture Department.
In America, Svetoslav Roerich took most active part in the work of all cultural and educational institutions established by Nicholas and Helena Roerichs. At the age of 19, he headed the International Artistic Center “Corona Mundi”, and later became a Vice-President of Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York.
In 1923, Svetoslav Roerich for the first time visited India. There he got acquainted with the most famous architectural masterpieces of the Indian culture, with the ancient and modern art of that country. In India, he laid foundations of his unique collection of Oriental pieces of art which, unfortunately, was almost completely lost after his death.
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| S. Roerich. Naggar. 1937 |
In 1924, S. Roerich returned to the USA and took most active part in the work related to management of the cultural and educational institutions associated with the name of N. Roerich. Thanks to Svetoslav Roerich, his parents and elder brother, who were on route in a most difficult Central Asian expedition, kept in touch with the “external world”. This opened up possibilities for their fruitful scientific and research activities. At the same time, S. Roerich continued to improve his painting skills and worked a lot. In 1925, he got the highest award at the exhibition in Philadelphia where about a hundred of his paintings were exhibited. The young painter’s subsequent achievements became confident steps on the way to mastery and perfection.
Svetoslav Roerich started his way of a painter as a portraitist, and reached highest craftsmanship in this genre. A distinctive feature of his creative work was his desire to deeply sense the character of the man whose portrait he was painting. Svetoslav Roerich pointed out: “We must always remember that a successful portrait is more than just resemblance”. Created by his brush canvases are elegant, laconic, and amazingly precisely convey the spiritual and emotional image of the portrayed person. That is why presented on them images of people look so alive and attractive. He painted about 30 of only his father’s portraits, one of them was purchased by the Luxemburg Museum in Paris. At that time, S. Roerich was just 35 years old. The gallery of created by Svetoslav Roerich portraits is enormous, especially noticeable among them are the precious images of his parents.
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| S. Roerich. Portrait of N.Ê. Roerich. 1934 |
Many features of the artist’s paintings testify to his father’s creative work impact. As S. Roerich himself noted"<...> my art sources are inseparably connected with N[icholas] R[oerich]”[3, p.49]. At the same time, continuing traditions of his great father in his painting, Svetoslav Roerich took his own way. In his pieces, there is no hint of imitation. Each painter, the father and the son, have their own styles and their own techniques.
Even in case of a short acquaintance with Roerich’s paintings, one feels the artist’s enormous creative range: beside portraits, he turns to landscape, epic, genre, and symbolic painting, and he shows himself as a virtuoso master and inspired experimenter in everything.
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