http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2009/russian-paintings-day-sale-l09675/lot.424.html?locale=en
424
Sviatoslav Roerich
PORTRAIT OF AN OLD TIBETAN
Estimate 20,000 — 30,000 GBP
LOT SOLD. 27,500 GBP
RUSSIAN PAINTINGS DAY SALE
01 DECEMBER 2009 | 10:30 AM GMT
LONDON
signed with the artist's monogram l.r.
charcoal and pastel on paper
61.5 by 43cm, 24 1/4 by 17 in.
PROVENANCE
Georges Chklaver, Centre Roerich de Paris
Acquired by the present owner in 2005
CATALOGUE NOTE
Sviatoslav Roerich studied architecture at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and continued his education in the US, but the allure of the Orient eventually prevailed and in 1931 he joined the rest of his family in India. Unlike his brother Yuri who returned to the USSR after their father's death, Svyatoslav lived there permanently, married a leading Indian film star and grew to prominence as an artist, classicist and philosopher. Nikolai Roerich admired his son's ability to 'bring the beautiful to life' and the 'harmonious intensity' of the portraits for which Svyatoslav is famed. Following in the tradition of Indian miniatures, he prepared many of the striking colours himself from local Himalayan plants and in his portraiture strove for mood and spirituality above realism, writing that 'a successful portrait is more than just resemblance'. His celebrated portraits of Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru hang in the Central Hall of the Indian Parliament.
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