(John Varoli’s article appeared in Russia Beyond the Headlines, 2/20; photo: John Varoli, Alexander Krasavin/Sputnik.)
The Nicholas Roerich Museum in Manhattan is North America’s only institution dedicated to the heritage of the great Russian Symbolist painter. While the museum is a treasure trove of the artist’s works, few New Yorkers, or Russians, even know it exists.
Soon after the Bolshevik seizure of power in November 1917, Russian artist Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947) fled St. Petersburg and sought refuge in Finland, then London, and finally made his way to New York in October 1920, staying and traveling around the U.S. until May 1923. A large exhibition of Roerich’s art, which was organized by the Chicago Art Institute, began in New York in December 1920 and which subsequently toured the country.
During Roerich’s time in the U.S. he founded the Master Institute of United Arts (an art school in New York) and the Roerich Museum, which opened in November 1923 at a location overlooking the Hudson River (310 Riverside Drive, Manhattan’s Upper West Side).
Like many other talented Russian emigres who fled the Revolution, Roerich quickly found admirers among New York City’s rich and powerful. Some patronized his art endeavors and were enthralled with his progressive ideas of world peace and spiritual harmony.
