Chan-La. Nek. 1932

Nicholas Roerich made this painting, Chan-La. Nek., with tempera, a traditional material of the Russian icon-painting tradition. The colors are applied in thin washes, creating luminous layers, so the materiality of the paint itself feels very present. The image is of the Himalayas; Roerich was a theosophist, believing in a spiritual connection to the landscape. The sharp angularity and the way the hills are stacked up in a way that’s both naturalistic and flattened, almost stylized like paper cut-outs. The architectural structure nestled into the landscape suggests a harmonious way of life in alignment with the planet's spiritual power. Roerich's interest in the ways of making, and in craft as a form of knowledge, reminds us of the value in seeing all art as a product of skillful processes, not just a flash of inspiration. This approach blurs any presumed distinction between high art and what we might learn from traditions of making.