LONDON.- In its École de Paris auction, MacDougall’s is offering five outstanding works by Nicholas Roerich from an important US collection, all of which are being offered for sale for the first time. All paintings were originally acquired from Louis and Nettie Horch, the infamous Roerich acolytes and the founders of the Roerich Museum in New York in 1923. All five works were part of the museum collection and are still framed in the original museum frames.
The works were created during Roerich’s 5-year expedition through Central Asia, which largely defined him as an artist and a philosopher, believed by some to be the reincarnation of the 5th Dalai Lama. During the expedition, the artist created about 500 works, capturing a pictorial panorama of lands and peoples of Inner Asia, registering ethnic, folklore and archaeological findings, all that gave ‘roots’ to his spiritual landscape.
Two works presented for sale are part of a ten-work series with the same title, Castles of Gesar Khan. He was a legendary hero who is to return to Earth to fight the forces of evil and bring about the Kingdom of Shambala. The two showcased versions of his Castle are strikingly different. One painting, estimated at £50,000–70,000 (lot 1), places the Castle high above the mundane world in the pristine mountains. The other painting, estimated at £60,000–90,000 (lot 2), depicts the Castle in the middle of a local village. It reflects Roerich’s vision of the divine presence that simultaneously guards us from above but is also present amongst us. Some Roerich’s followers believe that his works have healing powers.
Such as the quality of the artist’s legacy that his works, on the one hand, are scholarly accounts of local landscapes but at the same time, a revelation of the Path to Mergence with the Divine Fire, as the artist called his teaching, Agni Yoga. All five works presented for sale including Shentsa Dzong in the Trans-Himalayas. 1928 (lot 3, £50,000-70,000), Grave in the Trans-Himalayas. 1928 (lot 4, £75,000–120,000), Bamboos, from the 'Himalayan' series. 1924 (lot 5, £75,000–120,000) are the perfect examples of Roerich’s artistic powers as well as insights into his spiritual findings.
École de Paris and Other Masters online auction takes place 19 November – 4 December on Drouot.com; it offers over 100 important works by leading artists from 19th century to the present day, including V. V. Vereschagin, V. Makovsky, N. Roerich, Ph. Maliavin, F. Sychkov, D. Krasnopevtsev, O. Rabin, L. Purygin.
