She Who Leads by Nicholas Roerich - an image of Woman taken from classical Central Asian art
The Russian artist Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947) traveled in the Himalayas and Central Asia, and with his wife Helena founded the Agni Yoga Society based on occult interpretations of Central Asian mythic geography. I've always admired his use of light and color in painting mountainous scenery.
In this 1924 painting, Vedushchaya 'She Who Leads' or 'The Female Leader', Roerich expressed his vision of an important role played by women in shaping the future of humanity. His frequent use of tiny human figures shown in one corner of a vast landscape reminds me of Chinese Zen painting. This picture shows a typical Roerich mountain landscape in rich colors and luminous shadows. But it's the human figures in this one that caught my attention.
The woman walking in front pauses and turns around to look at a man crawling behind her on all fours, who is grasping her skirt. My discovery: This image was apparently lifted from a 16th-century illuminated manuscript miniature of the Herat school done in Bukhara.
(click on the pictures to enlarge)
This painting has been called "A Maiden and her Persistent Lover" and is attributed to the Herati painter Shaykh Zadah (a student of the great Herati master Behzad), after his move to Bukhara, dated circa 1530. Bukhara was at that time the capital of the Uzbek dynasty, patrons of the Herat school of art. The Uzbeks sometimes kidnapped the great artists of Herat and took them to Bukhara to work.
Look at the attitude of the woman's arms in both pictures, the curve of her back, the meeting of eyes, the placement of the man's knees at a lower level than her feet. Can the resemblance be coincidental? How Roerich might have gotten a look at this picture is a puzzle. I found it on page 100 of a book titled Pages of Perfection: Islamic Paintings and Calligraphy from the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg. Coincidentally, Roerich was a native of St. Petersburg. However, the Bukhara painting belongs to the private collection of the expatriate Iranian art historian Abolala Soudavar, resident in the USA. I can only wonder where this painting existed during Roerich's lifetime and if he ever saw it. Or if he saw a copy of it in Russia or Uzbekistan. A third possibility would be if this figure composition is a repeated theme in Central Asian art. It was first printed in Soudavar's book Art of the Persian Courts (1992).
The Persian text with the painting says (if I've translated it right): dâman chon to negâri ze kaff âsân na-deham / sayyâr be-dast âmadeh 'As you are a beauty, I don't let go of your skirt easily / The wanderer has come into my grasp'. This guy just has no respect for women's boundaries.
The contrast that caught my imagination is in how the two artists interpreted the exact same composition so differently. The woman in the Bukhara miniature seems to be saying "Hey, what's the idea of grabbing my skirt?" and the guy is like "Don't go, I want to be your boyfriend," and she's like "Let go of me, you stalker, before I get a restraining order," as she pulls her robe out of his hand. But Roerich envisions Woman leading Man into a more hopeful future for humanity. She is looking back at him with care and concern to make sure he's able to follow her as he struggles to keep up.
Roerich's philosophy was partly drawn from Shamanic traditions of the Altay Mountains. The most ancient levels of Siberian shamanism were attributed to women, shamanesses whose widespread name udagan was derived from a name of the Altaic Mother Goddess of the Hearth, Etügen (in Mongolian She is called Etügen Eke, 'Mother Earth'). Roerich's Goddess figures like Mater' Mira 'Mother of the World' come from this Altaic shamaness tradition. The artist looks to (idealized) women as future saviors of the human race.
In this 1924 painting, Vedushchaya 'She Who Leads' or 'The Female Leader', Roerich expressed his vision of an important role played by women in shaping the future of humanity. His frequent use of tiny human figures shown in one corner of a vast landscape reminds me of Chinese Zen painting. This picture shows a typical Roerich mountain landscape in rich colors and luminous shadows. But it's the human figures in this one that caught my attention.
The woman walking in front pauses and turns around to look at a man crawling behind her on all fours, who is grasping her skirt. My discovery: This image was apparently lifted from a 16th-century illuminated manuscript miniature of the Herat school done in Bukhara.
(click on the pictures to enlarge)
This painting has been called "A Maiden and her Persistent Lover" and is attributed to the Herati painter Shaykh Zadah (a student of the great Herati master Behzad), after his move to Bukhara, dated circa 1530. Bukhara was at that time the capital of the Uzbek dynasty, patrons of the Herat school of art. The Uzbeks sometimes kidnapped the great artists of Herat and took them to Bukhara to work.
Look at the attitude of the woman's arms in both pictures, the curve of her back, the meeting of eyes, the placement of the man's knees at a lower level than her feet. Can the resemblance be coincidental? How Roerich might have gotten a look at this picture is a puzzle. I found it on page 100 of a book titled Pages of Perfection: Islamic Paintings and Calligraphy from the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg. Coincidentally, Roerich was a native of St. Petersburg. However, the Bukhara painting belongs to the private collection of the expatriate Iranian art historian Abolala Soudavar, resident in the USA. I can only wonder where this painting existed during Roerich's lifetime and if he ever saw it. Or if he saw a copy of it in Russia or Uzbekistan. A third possibility would be if this figure composition is a repeated theme in Central Asian art. It was first printed in Soudavar's book Art of the Persian Courts (1992).
The Persian text with the painting says (if I've translated it right): dâman chon to negâri ze kaff âsân na-deham / sayyâr be-dast âmadeh 'As you are a beauty, I don't let go of your skirt easily / The wanderer has come into my grasp'. This guy just has no respect for women's boundaries.
The contrast that caught my imagination is in how the two artists interpreted the exact same composition so differently. The woman in the Bukhara miniature seems to be saying "Hey, what's the idea of grabbing my skirt?" and the guy is like "Don't go, I want to be your boyfriend," and she's like "Let go of me, you stalker, before I get a restraining order," as she pulls her robe out of his hand. But Roerich envisions Woman leading Man into a more hopeful future for humanity. She is looking back at him with care and concern to make sure he's able to follow her as he struggles to keep up.
Roerich's philosophy was partly drawn from Shamanic traditions of the Altay Mountains. The most ancient levels of Siberian shamanism were attributed to women, shamanesses whose widespread name udagan was derived from a name of the Altaic Mother Goddess of the Hearth, Etügen (in Mongolian She is called Etügen Eke, 'Mother Earth'). Roerich's Goddess figures like Mater' Mira 'Mother of the World' come from this Altaic shamaness tradition. The artist looks to (idealized) women as future saviors of the human race.
