http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2008/russian-art-n08428/lot.87.html
RUSSIAN ART
15 APRIL 2008 - 16 APRIL 2008 | 10:00 AM EDT
NEW YORK
87
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, UNITED STATES
Estimate 300,000 — 400,000 USD
LOT SOLD. 601,000 USD
Nicholas Roerich
1874-1947
RUSSIAN
ISLANDS. LAKE LADOGA, 1918
signed with artist's monogram and dated 1918 (lower right)
tempera on board
18 1/2 by 33 in.
47 by 84 cm
We would like to thank Gvido Trepša, Senior Researcher, Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York, for providing additional catalogue information.
PROVENANCE
Roerich Museum, New York (acquired directly from the artist in 1923)
Collection of Louis & Nettie Horch, New York (acquired from the above in 1935)
Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Acquired from the above by the present owner
EXHIBITED
Brooklyn, The Brooklyn Museum, The Nicholas Roerich Exhibition, 1920-1922, no. 54
LITERATURE
Christian Brinton, The Nicholas Roerich Exhibition, Brooklyn, 1920-1922, no. 54
Corona Mundi International Art Center, Roerich, 1924, pl. 21, illustrated
Roerich Museum, Roerich Museum Catalogue, 1930, no. 54
CATALOGUE NOTE
Roerich executed this work in Vyborg in 1918. He spent most of 1917 and 1918 near Lake Ladoga, and this is undoubtedly one of the finest paintings of his entire Karelia period. While there, he survived a life-threatening illness and witnessed destruction and chaos in his homeland and in Europe. Most of the works of this period are observations of nature, somewhat detached and emotionless. This composition evokes the first glimpses of the new Roerich, replenished by the monumental and serene energy of the North. The composition is dramatic in its foreground, both in line and color, but perfectly balanced by the calm, distant contours in the background, rounded by the eternal flow of time. The sky, so often dull and lifeless in Karelia paintings, is here alive again, with turbulent patches of clouds contrasting against the peaceful mountainous horizon.