City wall 1909

Nicholas Roerich made this image of a City Wall with ink or charcoal, maybe even pencil. I love the way it captures this monumental, ancient place with a kind of casual simplicity. The texture in this piece really gets me, especially the way Roerich layers the marks to create this sense of depth and history. Take a look at the stones in the foreground, you can almost feel the rough surface. It’s like the city has grown right out of the rocks themselves. The monochromatic palette adds to this timeless feel, like looking at an old photograph. Roerich reminds me a little of Giorgio de Chirico, in that both of them create these really atmospheric, dreamlike spaces. But where de Chirico is all about sharp lines and unsettling juxtapositions, Roerich is softer, more organic. It’s a reminder that art is always a conversation, a back-and-forth between artists across time and space. There’s no one “right” way to see or interpret a work like this, and that’s what makes it so exciting.