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Artist or Maker: Nikolai Konstantinovich Roerich (1874-1947)
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Literature: Roerich. Himalaya . Articles by F.Grant and others. New York: Brentano's Publishers, 1926, p. 200, illustrated on p. 28. Roerich Museum Catalogue . 8th ed. New York: Roerich Museum, 1930, p. 54, listed as "Little Tibet".
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Notes: PROPERTY FROM A CONNECTICUT COLLECTION
The Sanctuaries and Citadels series was created in August and September of 1925 while Nikolai Roerich and his companions were traveling in the Ladakh region of northern India. On August 8th the party left Gulmarg, Kashmir, for Leh, the capital of Ladakh (or Little Tibet, as it was also called). The journey took almost three weeks and the party passed numerous Buddhist monasteries, scattered along the way. In Leh Nikolai Roerich stayed till September 19th, visiting nearby temples and monasteries, and working on the series that came to comprise twenty-seven paintings. These are mostly views of Ladakh Buddhist monasteries, among them Lamayuru, Spi-thug, Chigtan, Hemis, and Tik-tse, and also the Royal Palace in Leh and paintings of mountain scenery. Although depicting real places, the paintings in the series were not given distinct titles; in the words of the artist himself: "One does not care to give to the local images any ethnographical or geographical character. Let them go as symbols: "Sanctuaries and Citadels." Let them by their general tone of heroism and attainment, themselves speak for this country." ( Roerich. Himalaya . Articles by F. Grant and others. New York: Brentano's Publishers, 1926, p.169.) The monastery shown in this painting is apparently that of Tik-tse, perched on a steep crag above the Indus River outside Leh. Fig.1 Period photograph of the monastery Tik-tse, presumably depicted in the present lot. We would like to thank Gvido Trepsha of the Nicholas Roerich Museum for his assistance in cataloguing the present lot
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