Lot 51: SVETOSLAV ROERICH (1904 - 1993)

SVETOSLAV ROERICH (1904 - 1993) Water Carrier Tempera on paper 12 x 18 in. (30.5 x 45.7 cm.) 1941 Signed and dated '41 S.Roerich' lower right and further inscribed '55 WATER/CARRIER' on reverse Svetoslav Roerich, son of the Russian artist Nikolai Roerich, studied art under the tutelage of his father, who often took him along on archaeological trips around ancient Russian cities. He left Russia via Finland two years after the Russian Revolution of 1917 and went on to study architecture at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, continuing his education in the US. During his student years at Columbia and Harvard Universities, Svetoslav Roerich continued to paint, and executed a large number of drawings and graphic works, but the allure of Asia eventually prevailed and in 1931 he joined the rest of his family in India. Unlike his brother Yuri who returned to Russia after their father's death, Svetoslav continued to live in India, married a leading Indian film star and grew to prominence as an artist, classicist and philosopher. Roerich assisted in founding the Himalayan Research Institute Urusvati, took part in scientific expeditions, and began to study Asian art history in earnest. The young artist became an important public figure and greatly contributed to the promotion of the Roerich Pact, an idea for the legal protection of cultural values world-wide.
 In India he actively participated in the work on the preservation and protection of ancient Indian cultural monuments urging the newly formed Indian Government to take concrete steps in this direction. Nikolai Roerich admired his son's ability to 'bring the beautiful to life'. Following in the tradition of Indian miniatures, he prepared many of the striking colours himself from local Himalayan plants, and strove for mood and spirituality above realism. Svetoslav described India as a 'living museum... The sense of continuity is alive: the ancient world and even the pre-historic era, the Middle Ages and the Modern Age... all jostle alongside one another and amass in a rich conglomeration.' (S.Tyulaev, Svetoslav Roerich, 1977, p.12.)

Gifted by the artist to Ruhaina Mohamedi Hydari, the daughter-in-law of Sir Akbar Hydari the Diwan of Hyderabad.