Monhegan (study) 1922

Nicholas Roerich made this study of Monhegan, probably on paper, with a pencil. It's all about marks, isn't it? See how he’s built up these scrabbly dark areas to describe the form of the rocks, the trees, and the ground. He's using hatching, layering, and a real range of marks, some soft, some sharp to try to capture the landscape in front of him. The process is visible. I find the raw, unpolished texture and the tentative lines exciting. The landscape emerges, but it’s not fixed. The physicality of the medium feels immediate. Look at the tree on the right, you can see how the trunk is made from two simple lines, but these are set against the complex mass of marks in the foliage. It is like he is trying to catch something before it gets away. I think of other artists obsessed with mark-making, like Cy Twombly. For both artists, the act of drawing becomes a way of thinking, of exploring the world, and of recording a fleeting moment. And for us, looking at it, that moment is somehow there for us too.