Why Study Nicholas Roerich — D. Savelli
Pourquoi s'intéresser à Nicolas Roerich. Ouverture is an academic article by D. Savelli introducing the personality, work and spiritual legacy of Nicholas Roerich.
The article provides a broad introduction to Nicholas Roerich and examines different aspects of his life and work, including painting, decorative art, teaching, poetry, writing, archaeology, travel, mysticism, Theosophy and Agni Yoga. It also considers the relationships between art, politics and esotericism, as well as the Russian perception of the East.
Bibliographic information
- Author: D. Savelli
- Title: Why Study Nicholas Roerich. Opening
- Repository: HAL
- HAL identifier: hal-04923531
- Submission date: 31 January 2025
- Last modification of the record: 23 September 2025
- Document type: Article
- File: Pourquoi s'intéresser à Nicolas Roerich. Ouverture - D. Savelli.pdf
- File size: 1.69 MB
- Article licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Abstract
To introduce Nicholas Roerich to whoever knows hardly anything about him is a real challenge. Any researcher interested in this painter, decorator, teacher, poet, writer, archaeologist, traveler, mystic, theosophist who founded with his wife Elena a New Religious Movement, the Agni Yoga, needs a huge amount of skills to deal with such different fields as arts, archeology, history, esotericism, religious studies, and even psychopathology…
The fact that Roerich’s personality and work have been the subject of divergent assessments adds to the difficulty. Hence our choice to open this collection of papers with a long introductory text which dwells anew on the different aspects of his bigger-than-life personality, his unique life and his spiritual heritage.
In doing so, we hope to have demonstrated how the so-called «Roerich’s case» is an excellent red thread to map out the relationship between art, politics and esotericism as well as the image Russia has of the East.
Abstract reproduced from the HAL bibliographic record.
Keywords
- Russian art
- New Age
- Nicholas Roerich
- Buddhism
- Tibet
- History of twentieth-century Russia
- Agni Yoga
- Religion
Research fields
- Art and art history
- Religious studies
Access to the article
The complete document is available through the HAL open archive.
The file is made available by its author through HAL under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 — Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence.
Copyright and licensing
Important: the licence of this article is separate from the licence applicable to the pages of Wiki Shangri-La.
Original Wiki Shangri-La content is published under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, unless otherwise indicated.
The article and PDF file by D. Savelli are subject to the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence indicated in the HAL record.
This page does not reproduce or adapt the article. It provides bibliographic information, contextual information and a link to the original publication.
The PDF should be accessed from the source provided by the author and the HAL open archive. It should not be considered part of the content released under the Wiki Shangri-La CC BY-NC-SA licence.
Relevance to the study of Nicholas Roerich
D. Savelli's article provides a useful starting point for readers approaching the study of Nicholas Roerich from an academic perspective.
The article emphasizes the need to examine Roerich through several fields of research, including art history, history, archaeology, religious studies, esotericism and the history of relations between Russia and Asia.
This multidisciplinary approach can be considered alongside the various resources about Nicholas Roerich and his intellectual and spiritual environment available on Wiki Shangri-La.
Source
D. Savelli, Why Study Nicholas Roerich. Opening, HAL, hal-04923531
