The oldest, the wisest 1944

Nicholas Roerich’s pastel drawing depicts a lone, bearded wanderer looking out on a hazy mountain landscape. I can imagine Roerich outside, maybe even in the landscape he's depicting, squinting as he uses the side of the pastel stick to capture the misty gradation of those beautiful, muted blues. See how the light and shadow play on the water and the mountain range? What a challenge it must have been to catch just the right atmospheric perspective. The wisened figure, leaning on a walking stick, is dressed in a folk-inspired robe and he appears to be both part of and separate from the landscape. His gaze directs our own, inviting us to contemplate the vastness and mystery of nature. Roerich made many works with similar figures: maybe this is the same character, returning again and again? There’s a cyclical quality to his work which reminds me that all artists are having a conversation across time, echoing each other’s thoughts, each other’s marks.