A visitor at the exhibition of paintings by Nicholas Roerich and his son Svetoslav in Darjeeling on Wednesday. Picture by Suman Tamang

Some of Roerich’s sketches on Mt Kanchenjungha put on display in Darjeeling. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, Nov. 17: Mt Kanchenjungha is being seen at its best for some days through the eyes of late Russian painter Nicholas Roerich, enthralling visitors with the peak’s different shades and impressions.

Of the 7,000 paintings drawn by Roerich, around 4,000 were based on the Himalayas and were preserved in Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York and State Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow.

A few sketches of the Himalayas have been on display at an exhibition titled Nicholas and Svetoslav Roerich — Painters of Kanchenjungha, organised by the Darjeeling Goodwill Centre here.

Roerich had lived in Darjeeling between 1923 and 1925 and again in 1928 before breathing his last at Kulu in Himachal Pradesh in 1947. Svetoslav was the younger son of Roerich and had married actress Devika Rani.

Roerich has been proclaimed the “master of the mountains”, with Rabindranath Tagore considering him a voice for “what every sensitive mind feels about the greatest of al arts, the Art of Living”. Even India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had once described Roerich as a “creative genius”.

Svetoslav was the founder of International Roerich Memorial Trust in Bangalore and the College of Fine Arts at the Bangalore University. He died in 1993.

“There are 41 paintings of Nicholas and five works of Svetoslav on display in Darjeeling. Members of the Darjeeling Art Academy have also displayed their works. We are planning to take these paintings to Gangtok and Calcutta,” said Fiorenza Bortolotti, the co-ordinator of the Goodwill Centre. The exhibition, which began on November 13, will carry on till tomorrow.

Alexander Mazirka, the director of Russian Centre of Science and Culture, Calcutta, and Alena Adamkova, the executive director of Kulu-based International Roerich Memorial Trust, have already visited the exhibition.

Roerich had arrived in Darjeeling in 1923, along with wife Helena and son George, and put up at Talai-Pho-Brang, which belonged to the 13th Dalai Lama and is at present the premises of the Tibetan Refugee Centre here. Helena died in Kalimpong in 1955 and her body was laid to rest at Durpin Dara.

“The first view of Kanchenjungha and other Himalayan peaks gave Roerich such a strong impression that he started to draw incessantly. Between 1924 and 1925, he painted three series of canvas, inspired by the beauty of the region, its history, legends and spirituality,” said Bortolotti.

The Mountain of Five Treasures — Sacred Kanchenjungha is considered one of the finest works of Roerich.

The Goodwill Centre is also celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Roerich Pact of Culture, which was signed in Washington in 1935 in the presence of the then US president F. Roosevelt and 21 other world leaders.

“Through the pact, Nicholas wanted to ensure that there was an international law to protect cultural heritage in case of armed conflict,” said Bortolotti. Roerich was concerned that cultural treasures would be destroyed if a world war broke out.

“India, too, approved the treaty in 1948 but is yet to frame rules and regulations. We hope that will be done soon,” said Bortolotti.