Churlish 1918

Nicholas Roerich’s painting, Churlish, shows us an earthy interior rendered in warm yellows and browns. There is such a sense of experimentation in the way the paint has been applied, it looks like Roerich is working it, pushing and pulling the pigment to see what it can do. The surface has a rough, almost stucco-like quality, as if the painting has been built up layer by layer. The colors are dense and opaque, and the light seems to emanate from within the painting itself. Look at how the brushstrokes follow the forms, accentuating the arches of the ceiling and the curves of the vases. The texture is everything here, giving a real sense of depth to the space. Notice how the darkest blues on the right add to the sense of perspective, drawing our eye toward the back of the painting. Roerich reminds me a bit of Marsden Hartley, both interested in a kind of spiritual symbolism and earthy palettes. Ultimately, a painting like this is about the ongoing conversation between artists across time, a conversation that embraces ambiguity and multiple interpretations.