The work of Katherine Campbell: another look at a woman. Evening dedicated to the memory of Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Roerich Correspondence with Mr. Roerich and Campbell

Their destinies were closely connected from a young age. For many decades they did not part for a day. They left almost together - in the same year: April 25, 1996, Ingeborg Gisella Fritschi (Secretary of the Board of the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York, Secretary of the Board of the Agni Yoga Society in the USA), August 10 - Katherine Campbell-Stibbe (President of the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York, Chairman of the Board of the Agni Yoga Society in the USA). Both were worthy and beloved students of Helena Ivanovna Roerich, they were known and loved by the entire Roerich family. They were deeply respected by everyone who was involved in the cultural construction launched by this family.

I was lucky enough to communicate with Katria Campbell-Stibbe and Ingeborg Gisella Fritschi since 1977 during their visits to Moscow and visits to the State Museum of Oriental Art, where they were received as the most dear guests. Now that they were gone, it seemed necessary to me to remember all the most significant of our meetings.

The story will have to start from afar, from 1904. Then 800 paintings by Russian artists, including 75 “architectural” studies of N.K. Roerich, which were at an exhibition in the USA, were sold at auction there due to the lack of management of the organizer. When Roerich was told about this, he reacted quite calmly, answering with a smile: “Well, let my paintings be a Russian greeting on American soil.” Later, in the 20s, when he was in the United States, his attitude towards this fact changed. Nikolai Konstantinovich more than once expressed his regret about the fate of these works, believing that they were especially close to the heart of the Russian people, and could have served in the restoration of ancient monuments. Both his family and friends knew this well.

I. Fritchi K. Campbell

And now let’s turn our thoughts to the anniversary of 1974 - the year of the centenary of the birth of Nicholas Roerich. Then his anniversary was celebrated widely, with great attention from both the government and the public. By that time, for the first time since 1917, books about Roerich and his own works came out of print, large exhibitions of works by N.K. Roerich and S.N. were held with great success. Roerich (later shown for 15 years in many cities of the country, the exhibition traveled more than 100 times from Moscow). The USSR Academy of Arts, together with other creative organizations, held for the first time a scientific conference dedicated to the work of the Roerichs. The anniversary was celebrated in an unusually festive manner at the Bolshoi Theater - the stage was decorated with white chrysanthemums, and in the depths of it hung a large portrait of Nikolai Konstantinovich, bordered by a golden laurel crown. Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Roerich and his wife Devika Rani were in the central “royal” box. Their appearance was greeted by those present with thunderous applause, everyone rose from their seats. Then there was a magnificent concert - M. Plisetskaya danced, I. Arkhipova sang. I think, perhaps, it was at these moments that Svyatoslav Nikolaevich became confident in the wonderful fate of his father’s legacy in his homeland and had a desire to somehow respond to such attention and love from his compatriots.

At the same time, at the anniversary exhibition at the Academy of Arts, the first television film about N.K. Roerich was shot, it immediately went off screen. It was decided to immediately create a second picture - about Svyatoslav Nikolaevich. Imagine our surprise when he replied: “I can’t right now. I'm busy. I have business in Europe. Tomorrow I’m flying to Switzerland for three or four days.” We were upset and annoyed. It was believed that Svyatoslav Nikolaevich’s business person prevailed over the creative one. But how wrong we were, how wrong we were. We later learned that he flew to Geneva to meet Katherine Campbell-Stibbe, an old friend of his who lived in the USA but spent part of the summer and autumn seasons in Switzerland. He told her about everything that he saw in Moscow and asked her, the owner of a large collection of paintings by both Roerichs, to fulfill Nikolai Konstantinovich’s long-standing desire that the Russian architectural series return to its homeland. Katherine had 42 works out of 75 paintings from this cycle sold in the USA. She happily gave the deed of gift into the hands of Svyatoslav Nikolaevich for transfer to the Minister of Culture of the USSR.

It so happened that a year and a half later, Genrikh Pavlovich Popov, who was then the director of the State Oriental Museum, went to the United States to buy paintings in a small town near Washington, where Katherine Campbell-Stibbe lived. He was carrying a gift with him - a finely crafted necklace and bracelet made by masters of Kasli casting and Palekh (plates with Russian subjects were inserted into the cast-iron filigree openwork). But when Genrikh Pavlovich appeared there, he was met by two women - Katherine Campbell and Ingeborg Fritschi, who lived together for many years (Ingeborg - as a companion and friend of Katherine, who had helped her raise her son in the past. They had been friends since they were eighteen). So, Katherine got the necklace, Ingeborg got the bracelet.

1977 First visit to Russia. C. Campbell speaks at the opening of the permanent exhibition of paintings by N.K. Roerich. On the left is translator G.M. Belyaeva, in the background (from left to right) V.I. Popov (Deputy Minister of Culture of the USSR), V.S. Kemenov (Vice President of the USSR Academy of Arts), I. Fritschi

Genrikh Pavlovich stayed there for more than three weeks. During this time, he became close friends with both Catherine and Ingeborg. They spent days and evenings together. This is a separate story, and should be in the first person. I can only say that Henry Pavlovich interested Catherine Campbell so much in stories about our Oriental Museum that he aroused in her an ardent desire to convey not only the Russian architectural series, but also paintings from the Himalayan cycle, the collection of Oriental art collected by the Roerich family, and some of their personal things. For this purpose, they all went together to Switzerland, where most of these valuables were kept.

Upon his arrival in Moscow, Genrikh Pavlovich, first of all, placed the brought gift in large exhibition halls, hanging everything on the walls - from paintings to embroidered panels, and also placing all objects of applied art in display cases - sculptures made of bronze and wood, jewelry - everything last bead. The stands contained books, photographs, and a small archive that Campbell donated to the museum at the same time. All this was shown to the Minister of Culture of the USSR A. Demichev, who was invited to the museum, who said the phrase that decided the fate of the collection: “Out of respect for the donor, this collection cannot be divided.” Thus, everything brought ended up in the State Museum of Oriental Art.

The following year, 1977, the government invited Katherine Campbell-Stibbe and Ingeborg Gisella Fritschi to Moscow. They were given a worthy reception in the Kremlin. But I would like to talk about their visit from its first hours. It was Sunday. I was lucky - I was on duty at the museum. Genrikh Pavlovich called and said that he was taking them straight from the airport to the museum and warned that it was necessary to entertain them for at least two hours while he took care of all the formalities. I and the museum staff who were in the halls prepared chairs to move behind the elderly ladies (it was said that they were well over seventy). Imagine our surprise when two attractive, smart women in mink coats emerged from a black ZIL - Katherine in blue, Ingeborg in brown. Quickly entering the museum, they threw their coats into the hands of those who greeted them and with great interest began to get acquainted in detail with the exhibits in the halls. The chairs were immediately taken away. I told them in detail, they asked a lot of questions and often said near one of the display cases: “I have a similar thing, I will certainly give it to your museum.”

The program of their visit, in addition to the reception by the government in the Kremlin, included the grand opening of the permanent exhibition of N.K. Roerich in our museum. But this was supposed to take place in two weeks, so Popov took Katherine and Ingeborg to Suzdal, where they were received all the more cordially because the Minister of Culture of the RSFSR Mikhailov was there at the time, who immediately joined them. The trip became unforgettable. Then again Moscow with the Bolshoi Theater, the Armory and other museums, Leningrad with its treasures.

And finally, the opening of the exhibition at the Museum of the East. Katherine was very worried, Ingeborg, as usual, was calm. Katherine said that she is not an art critic and will not speak. But after heartfelt speeches by officials, starting with the vice-president of the Academy of Arts V.S. Kemenov, Campbell saw the eyes of the people who came to the opening looking at her with deep gratitude. She suddenly walked up to the microphone and almost crying (tears were rolling down her cheeks) said: “I realized what is worth living for. Nothing compares to the joy of giving what is most precious to people. A lot has happened over the years, but these two weeks were the happiest of my life.”

In the summer of the following year, Catherine Campbell again invited Heinrich Pavlovich to her place, and he returned with a new gift - another 22 large paintings by N.K. Roerich, works by S.N. Roerich, books, photographs. Ingeborg gave, having removed from the wall in her room, a portrait of Nicholas Konstantinovich, painted by Svyatoslav Roerich. The Tibetan cap of Nicholas Roerich, in which he is depicted in this portrait and in many photographs, and the silver cutlery used by the Roerich family were also donated.

The following winter, in 1978, again at the invitation of the government, Katherine and Ingeborg were in Moscow. This visit was also interesting from the first day. At this time, the museum opened an exhibition of jewelry by a craftswoman from Tbilisi, Manoba Magomedova, which was attended by all of Moscow. Despite the thirty-degree frost, the queue stood until the gates facing the street. The car with our guests drove through the open gates and drove along the entire line. Campbell and Fritschi decided that everyone was in the museum because of Roerich. In fact, that’s how it was. Visitors, after walking around for a while among the display cases with bracelets and rings, although quite beautiful, went up to the second floor, where the Roerich Himalayas shone with all the colors and the ancient towers and monasteries, temples and boyars' mansions beckoned with the aroma of antiquity. Here everyone stayed for a long time, and the halls were filled with admiring people. When our guests went up there, there was a very diverse audience - from Arbat old ladies in hats to long-haired hippies, there were schoolchildren and parents with small children, students and groups of tourists from the Russian outback.

Campbell rushed into the halls - the exhibition was new to her, completely redone and more successful. Standing at one of the display cases with the oriental collection of Roerichs, she said: “You will probably laugh at me, but I am sure that Roerich sent Henry to me,” and at the same time raised her index finger up. And she added: “I am very happy that Roerich has found his home.” Then an interesting episode occurred: a tall, gray-haired elderly man came up to me and asked if this was the woman whose gift was written about in the newspapers? I confirmed. He said, “I don’t speak English, but I can’t help but thank her,” walked up to Catherine, bowed at her feet and respectfully kissed her hand. Katherine was terribly moved.

On that visit, there was again a meeting with the Minister of Culture. We sat for a long time over tea in the office of the museum director, Genrikh Pavlovich Popov. I tried to ask about Elena Ivanovna Roerich. For example, what role did Elena Ivanovna play in the creation of paintings by Nikolai Konstantinovich, did she help directly during work? Katherine replied that very often Nikolai Konstantinovich wrote on the subjects that Elena Ivanovna suggested, and sometimes he chose the color scheme on her advice. Then it became clear to me why in the list of a large catalog-album published in New York, one chapter was called in exact translation “Under the wing of E. Roerich.” I asked how Elena Ivanovna and Nikolai Konstantinovich behaved in public when they came to exhibitions together? Katherine noticed their remarkable habit - Nikolai Konstantinovich constantly tenderly held Elena Ivanovna by the little finger, without letting go of him. It seems like a small detail of behavior, but how expensive it is to know. It must be said that on each of their visits there was almost always a large retinue of officials from the museum around them, and they rarely had the opportunity to communicate and ask such questions.

1978 Second visit. K. Campbell and Minister of Culture P.N. Demichev

On that second visit, one unexpected thing happened, connected with television. Before the arrival of Catherine and Ingeborg, the editor-in-chief of the literary and drama department of Central Television, Vladimir Yuryevich Benediktov, and I finished the second film about Nicholas Roerich - based on the gift of Catherine Campbell. The film was made in an interesting way, technical innovations were used very inventively - the bronze Buddha, dissolving, turned into the Buddha written on the Tibetan icon; the image went into the distance and turned into the peak of the Himalayas, etc. When Katherine and Ingeborg arrived in Moscow, I asked Benediktov to give us a studio to watch this film on the big screen. We arrived in Ostankino and started watching the film. Katherine really liked the text, which was translated simultaneously for her. She asked to make her a copy of the film with English text (a copy was sent to her later).

Deputy Chairman of the State Committee on Radio and Television, Enver Nazimovich Mamedov, since he was signing passes for foreign women to the studio (an unprecedented case), wanted to see the “old American women” who made a gift worth a million dollars. In his huge office, tea with jasmine petals was organized, we all sat around a long table. When he saw Campbell, a woman of amazing beauty and charm, he forgot about protocol and translators and switched to English with her. He paused for a second, ran to the remote control in the corner of the room, pressed a few buttons, and I heard: “The cameras come to me immediately, urgent recording, it’s impossible not to record this!” While we were talking, in the spacious room in front of the office there were cameras and lights, and a journalist was sitting, to whom Campbell was supposed to answer questions. She was terribly worried, and so was I. But Ingeborg (with whom we could communicate in my poor German), taking my hand in hers, said: “No need to worry, Katherine will do everything right.” Then we saw the recording in the “Time” program. Katherine later told me: “I have never been so ashamed in my life, I said God knows what.” I reassured her that the translation was excellent. We later ordered this recording from the studio for the museum archive.

Wherever Campbell appeared, everyone was amazed by her amazing appearance, rare beauty, and grace of gestures. Someone joked at the museum that she would never be over thirty. To which she said with a superbly played-out insult: “Well, I’m eighteen at heart!”

Another memorable meeting took place in the summer of 1979. At that time, a memorial cabinet for Roerich was created in the Oriental Museum. Between the visits of Catherine and Ingeborg, there were regular visits of Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Roerich and Devika Rani. He was the first to visit the office. I apologized to him that the room was small. Svyatoslav Nikolaevich, taking me by the hands and looking soulfully into my eyes, said: “Nikolai Konstantinovich also said, if the seed is healthy, the tree will grow and be strong. And it will certainly grow with you.” At the same time, Zinaida Grigorievna Fosdick, one of the founders and permanent keeper of the N. Roerich Museum in New York, wrote to me about the same thing, but in different words: “I congratulate you on the creation of N. Roerich’s cabinet - this is the seed of the future museum.”

When Katherine and Ingeborg first entered the office, they somehow became reverently silent. Campbell said: “It’s beautiful here. It's like I'm at home. But the house became empty...” One of the museum employees joked: “We won’t let Genrikh Pavlovich see you anymore, otherwise he’ll take everything from you!” To this she very calmly, without any tearfulness or self-pity common among older people, objected: “No, don’t tell me. Time is time, and everything that needs to be done must be done on time, otherwise it may be too late.”

At the request of journalists, a press conference was held at the museum, the first after the donation of the gift, since Campbell was very afraid of the reaction to this act in her own country. It was the era of the Cold War, and she directly said that she was afraid that stones would be thrown at her windows for friendship with “red” Russia. She asked me to write less about her in the newspapers. Later she somehow calmed down about this. At a press conference, Katherine was asked: why did she give everything to our country? Campbell replied: “Because Roerich taught us to love Russia.” And it was the honest truth. She had an only son, and he was raised in such a way that he volunteered for the front to help Russia. Died at the age of 23. They raised their son together with Ingeborg.

1979 Third visit. Confidential conversation in the memorial office of N.K. Roerich in the Museum of the East. On the left is S.G. Kozlovsky (acting director of the museum), next to K. Campbell, translator G.M. Belyaeva and I. Fritschi

On the same visit in 1979, our only long conversation took place. It so happened that all the officials in the museum and G.N. Popov, who by that time had become the head of the Department in the Ministry of Culture, were busy, and Katherine wanted to go to the museum. The translator, Henrietta Mikhailovna Belyaeva, who had always been with our lovely guests since our first visits, called and said that they would stop by for about twenty minutes, no more. We've arrived. We sat down in the office. Only acting director was with us. Director Stanislav Grigorievich Kozlovsky. We sat there for more than two hours.

Here I must definitely talk about the role of the translator in such a conversation, otherwise our communication with Katherine and Ingeborg is unclear. You don’t notice a good translator, you are left with the full impression of direct contact. Henrietta, who constantly accompanied Campbell with Fritschi and Devika Rani Roerich, was an ideal in this sense. And in general, she loved them all with all her heart and was a real guardian angel for them. When the conversation I'm talking about took place, Campbell seemed to understand that no one would interfere with us; she was lost in her memories, and her story was surprisingly vivid. I couldn’t write it down right away, it could interfere with our conversation and break trust. I wrote it down from memory as soon as Katherine and Ingeborg left the office and went to the hotel.

The first thing I asked Katherine about was when and how did she meet Svyatoslav Nikolaevich? She answered (I give the answers in abbreviation): “We met in 1925. Then I entered a ballet studio to improve my figure after the birth of a child. Svyatoslav Nikolaevich was interested in ballet. My teacher, a Russian ballerina, was his friend, so he came to the class where I was studying. He was very young then and tried to appear older than his years - he wore a beard and walked with a cane. We seem to like each other. He asked me to be his model. A huge number of drawings and sketches in different poses have been preserved, sometimes I even acted as a Chinese woman with narrow eyes,” she expressively showed this with a gesture, lifting the corners of her eyes with her fingers. Later I saw this portrait in a Chinese dress in reproduction. Catherine continued: “He painted large portraits from life. There is one portrait of me that he painted instantly - in forty-five minutes. Large portraits - in a striped dress and against the backdrop of a dragon and a phoenix - were painted by him in Paris in 1927. Of course, he embellished me a little.” Catherine also donated these two beautiful portraits to the museum, as well as several others of a smaller size. On her first visit, having met us and seen everything, she said: “I have many of my portraits by Svyatoslav, I will definitely give them to your museum. We don’t have any relatives, I don’t want strangers to buy them at auction when I’m gone.”

Katherine also asked about meeting Nikolai Konstantinovich. “I met Nicholas Roerich in 1929,” she answered. “He often visited our house and said that he came to us to “rest his soul.” I purchased my first painting by Nicholas Roerich in 1933.” Fritschi immediately remembered: “Then he gave me my first painting - “The Apostle Paul”.” Katherine continued: “Then Nikolai Konstantinovich painted me a picture depicting Mother Mira with a veil over her face. Several figures rise along her bedspread, it was implied that one of them was me. Nikolai Konstantinovich asked me to hang it at the head of my bedroom. There she still hangs, apparently protecting me. The picture is small in size, I don't like big ones. I will definitely send a color photo of it. When Nikolai Konstantinovich painted “Mother of the World” for me, every day in the morning after the gates at our house opened, people stood behind them—there were more and more of them every day—and asked permission to look at the painting.”

What was Nikolai Konstantinovich like, how did she remember him, I asked? Catherine said: “He was never in a hurry. He wasn’t fussy, but he managed to get a lot done—his entire day was scheduled down to the minute. He had been busy with extensive correspondence since the morning. After lunch I wrote. At that time, foreign ambassadors first visited the Roerich Museum and then the White House.”

Then Katherine recalled about Svyatoslav Roerich: “When he came to New York to enter Harvard University, he had no friends at all. And at the Roerich Museum they saw him as a person who could challenge their right to leadership. Then Ingeborg and I were his only and true friends. He often came to us, and we supported him in every possible way.” I asked: what is the fate of the paintings that fell into the hands of Horsch? Katherine replied: “We are looking for traces of them, some of them lead to Texas and California. Four months ago we learned that Horsch’s widow was selling several paintings by Nicholas Roerich and my portraits by Svyatoslav. We went there. The paintings were removed from the stretchers, wrapped in a roll, and the painting crumbled. One of my portraits - very good - is in the same condition. We bought them, but the restorer, who restored his works during Nicholas Roerich’s lifetime, is now very ill. We have not yet decided who will restore these paintings. Horsch's widow realized that now interest in Nicholas Roerich had increased, and if earlier she asked for 700 dollars for his painting, now it is 7-8 thousand. She is now selling the archives of Horsch and N. Roerich together. We are negotiating. We’re trying to find out where the other paintings went.”

Then we talked for a long time about the memorial office of N.K. Roerich in our museum, about the possibility of obtaining copies of the archives, about the fate of the archives kept by Svyatoslav Nikolaevich. Campbell said: “It's difficult, we talk to him about these topics every year and every year it's no use. Wish us good health so that we can continue to influence it - we will try to help you.” I noticed to myself that both Katherine and Fritschi looked at the paintings hanging in the memorial office somehow especially - either jealously, or with a sense of fulfilled duty. This was expressed in the words of Katherine: “When we see all this, we feel at home. We feel very good here." And she added: “In order to benefit you, we must work hard.” I asked if it was possible for the memoirs of the Roerich family to be written by her? Katherine replied: “It’s impossible, you can’t put feelings on paper!” The last thing I asked her then was how she would feel about the creation of a N. Roerich museum in Moscow from her gift? Campbell said: “Oh, that would be wonderful, Nicholas Roerich deserved it, he was a great man!” Ingeborg, who rarely inserted a few words, participated in the conversation in the most active way. Katherine constantly looked at her, waiting for an approving nod of her head or simply a sympathetic gesture. It was felt that they were united in everything; their long life side by side had taught them to think alike. Only Katherine expressed everything very emotionally, while Ingeborg was business-like and calm. At the end of their visit, she gave me a pack of reproduction postcards to distribute to everyone who loves Roerich.

1986 Fourth visit. K. Campbell with G.P. Popov and O.V. Rumyantseva in the memorial office of N.K. Roerich

When Catherine Campbell and Ingeborg Fritschi were leaving, they said that they had to fly to Novosibirsk the next day. I know little about their trip. In Novosibirsk they became very close friends with Moscow film director Renita Grigorieva, who was then planning to shoot a feature film about N.K. Roerich. They had long, frank conversations. Then Katherine told Renita about the very special relationship between her and Yuri Nikolaevich, remembering him, she cried. When I found out about this, it became clear to me why she had difficulty parting with the Tibetan altar that Yuri Roerich had once given her. At the last moment, Campbell brought this altar to Genrikh Pavlovich at the Geneva airport, he carried it holding it on his knees.

I remember another visit by Campbell and Fritchie, already in 1986. Campbell had been planning to come to us for several years; she made arrangements by telephone with Genrikh Pavlovich, but it never worked out for her. She knew that in 1984 the museum moved to a new building on Suvorovsky (now Nikitsky) Boulevard, apparently, she was worried about the fate of the transferred paintings and the memorial cabinet of N.K. Roerich - how are they now presented, have the paintings gone into storage?

With excitement, Katherine and Ingeborg crossed the threshold of the museum and quickly entered the halls. It was clear from their faces that they really liked everything. At first they watched in silence, at times quietly talking to each other. Finally Katherine said, “I’m happy. I made sure that everything was in good hands.” Then we went to the Roerich memorial office. There a sumptuous table awaited them with homemade pies and all the gifts of the earth at the end of July. They talked about the publication of a large album of Svyatoslav Roerich, for which Campbell promised to send several additional slides. She complained about her bad memory and asked Ingeborg to write everything down (later the promise was fulfilled). By that time, almost ten long years had passed since their first visit to our museum, but both Katherine and Ingeborg had hardly changed in their almost ninety years! Katherine was still very beautiful, and Ingeborg had amazing posture with a straight back like a ballerina's.

Before departure at the airport

This whole visit seemed to have flown in vain for me - that’s when I remembered the art of translation and dear Henrietta Mikhailovna, who made previous meetings so unforgettable and significant. On this visit, to great regret, Henrietta Mikhailovna was not in Moscow. We had a translator “due to a misunderstanding.” To my requests to translate everything that was said in the halls near the display cases, near the paintings, in the memorial office, she answered: “I am not obliged to translate every sneeze.” Therefore, I cannot say almost anything about this visit.

1984 S.N. Roerich and G.P. Popov at the Museum of the East. Photo by D.S. Chizhkov

That visit was not easy for Catherine Campbell either. She had eye surgery with N. Fedorov, Fritschi had to go to Switzerland on their business. Katherine was left alone. The heat was unbearably thirty degrees, and there was no air conditioning in the National Hotel where she was staying. I was told that in all the rooms the doors to the corridor were open to create at least a small air flow. Later I found out that in the evenings Katherine was left alone - the translator was not with her like Henrietta had been before. At the airport, when we saw Campbell off, Genrikh Pavlovich himself translated, correcting the situation with the translator. Katherine asked him to come to her as soon as possible for the remaining paintings and archive. Genrikh Pavlovich promised, but he didn’t succeed. The ministry considered that he travels abroad too often. They didn’t believe it and didn’t want to understand that Catherine Campbell would not give anything into the hands of an unfamiliar official, even if he was of a higher rank. She was waiting only for Henry, sent to her by Roerich. Their connections weakened without the nourishment of communication.

There was another visit, in 1991, but we did not see her. She spent two days and one night in Moscow. I accidentally found out about her upcoming arrival and called Popov. He and Henrietta Mikhailovna arrived at the airport with a huge bouquet of roses. We agreed that the next day he would call her where she would be and they would meet.

But all of Popov’s calls were unsuccessful.

The misunderstanding was cleared up later when Genrikh Pavlovich called Katherine from Germany and had an almost hour-long conversation with her. He invited her to come, but Campbell said it was already very difficult for her to move. Taking advantage of Campbell's advanced age, they tried to convince her that the collection donated to our museum was not framed by her. The director of the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York, Daniel Entin, who came to the anniversary celebrations in 1994, at the request of Catherine Campbell and the Board of Directors of the museum, asked to see the deeds of gift (there are several of them). We granted this request; a huge book of gift documents was brought from the Accounting department, located in another building of the museum, at the other end of Moscow (on Vorontsovo Pole Street) and shown in N. Roerich’s office. At the same time, a lady who came with Daniel Entin and was a member of the Board of Directors was present. The documents were carefully examined to everyone's relief and satisfaction. I wrote Katherine and Ingeborg a letter in which I told about our news and anniversary celebrations. My last contact with Catherine and Ingeborg was a letter brought to me in 1994 from them by friends from the N. Roerich Museum in New York. I give a short excerpt from it:

“Your dear letter was a great joy for us, since it brought us such good and exciting news, namely, that there is a signed decree that the Lopukhin Palace is a national treasure and will be restored by the Government...”

This spring, at the end of April, I received a call from the Roerich Museum in New York. They said that Ingeborg Fritschi was in Switzerland. She stayed there only for four days, which were the last of her life. Katherine Campbell has been using a wheelchair for the last year, but still goes to Switzerland as before. The long life of Catherine Campbell and Ingeborg Fritschi, which lasted almost a century (this year (2000 - Note ed.) Katherine would have been 98, and Ingeborg 97 years old), was consecrated by many good deeds, which will be remembered by people who knew them, and the priceless gift of the collection of Roerichs of Russia became a wonderful monument to their goodwill.

On January 30, 1993, in Bangalore (India), the earthly journey of the outstanding artist, humanist thinker, educator and public figure Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Roerich ended. His wonderful paintings are known all over the world. For his outstanding achievements in the field of culture, he was awarded government awards from various countries, including the highest civil order of India, the Padma Bhushan, the Soviet Order of Friendship of Peoples, and the Order of the Madara Horseman, established by the State Council of Bulgaria. Svyatoslav Nikolaevich was a laureate of the International J. Nehru Prize, a holder of the Bulgarian Order of Cyril and Methodius, an honorary member of the USSR Academy of Arts, an honorary doctor of the University of Veliko Tarn in Bulgaria, and an academician of the Academy of Fine Arts of India. He considered the most outstanding award in his life to be the award established by the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York, since the diploma for it was signed by N.K. Roerich.

« Russia is the space of the future. Russia is predetermined to have a great, cosmic role on earth“- stated Svyatoslav Nikolaevich. In 1989, on his initiative, the Soviet Roerich Foundation was created in our country, to which he transferred the invaluable heritage of his family for the creation of a public Center-Museum named after N.K. in Moscow. Roerich. Subsequently, with the collapse of the USSR, the Soviet Roerich Foundation was transformed into the International Center of the Roerichs (ICR).

Svyatoslav Nikolaevich attached great importance to social forms of culture, and that is why the Museum named after N.K. Roerich was conceived by him as a public center. Under the leadership of his confidant, the famous scientist, writer and public figure Lyudmila Vasilievna Shaposhnikova, a unique public museum was created.

Every year on January 30, the ICR celebrates the Day of Remembrance of Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Roerich. 23 years have passed since the great artist and educator was no longer with us. But according to his behests, the Museum named after N.K. continues to work and develop. Roerich, scientific and cultural cooperation is carried out with India and other countries, numerous exhibitions are organized, books are published. For many educational organizations, the ICR has become the focus of international cultural activities for the study, preservation and popularization of the Roerichs' heritage.

This year is the Day of Remembrance of S.N. Roerich was held for the first time without the general director of the Museum named after N.K. Roerich - L.V. Shaposhnikova, who passed away on August 24, 2015. The ICR and its public Museum are working today in a very difficult situation. High-ranking officials of the Ministry of Culture are making attempts to destroy the museum and block its activities. But it is precisely these memorable days that allow us to touch the images of outstanding personalities on a planetary scale, among which, undoubtedly, is S.N. Roerich, to be inspired by their thoughts, to gain new impetus for cultural construction and protection of the Beautiful.

On January 30, 2016, a meeting of the activists of the Roerich movement was held at the ICR “Museum named after N.K. Roerich ICR - a unique example of a social form of culture: development prospects". Representatives of Roerich organizations from Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, Germany, and Finland took part in this meeting. Those who cherish the legacy of S.N. came to Moscow. Roerich: " Carry high the banner of the Teaching and our Teachers, do not let it be used for negative purposes. Protect the International Center of the Roerichs, help its employees, do not allow anyone to interfere with its work. May your hearts be pure and your thoughts noble. Remember that the fate of Russia is in your hands. Let there be Light!"(Address by S.N. Roerich to the Roerich societies of Russia and other independent states, April 26, 1992) The meeting participants discussed ways to help and protect the Museum named after N.K. Roerich in the difficult conditions in which he found himself. Employees of Roerich organizations exchanged experience in conducting the international exhibition project of the International Center of the Roerichs “Roerich Pact. History and modernity." They expressed unanimous support for the ICR and their readiness to provide further assistance in upholding the covenant of S.N. Roerich on the public status of the Museum named after N.K. Roerich.

The program of the evening dedicated to the memory of S.N. Roerich held a presentation of the third volume of the collection “...To act in the name of good is our sacred duty. Correspondence of Svyatoslav Roerich with Catherine Campbell". This edition includes letters from 1936, stored in the manuscripts department of the International Center of the Roerichs. The very idea of ​​publishing the correspondence of S.N. Roerich and K. Campbell (1898–1996), the closest associate of the Roerichs, an active figure in the Roerich movement in the USA, belongs to L.V. Shaposhnikova. The book is the result of extensive research work by the ICR team.

Before the presentation, the Chairman of the Vladimir Society “Culture” Gennady Alekseevich Rudenko donated previously unpublished photographs of S.N. to the International Center of the Roerichs. Roerich. They will be presented in the 4th volume of correspondence from S.N. Roerich and K. Campbell.

Alexander Vitalievich Stetsenko, Vice-President of the International Center of the Roerichs, presented to those present a brief retrospective of the formation of the International Center of the Roerichs during the 23 years after the departure of S.N. Roerich. He spoke about the enormous work that had been accomplished over the years by the General Director of the Museum named after N.K. Roerich L.V. Shaposhnikova and her staff.

ICR is an associate member of the UN Department of Public Information and a member of the Pan-European Federation for Cultural Heritage “Europa Nostra”. He conducts publishing activities, publishes the magazine “Culture and Time”, produces films dedicated to the life and work of the Roerich family. Route of the international exhibition project of the ICR “Roerich Pact. History and Modernity” passed through many countries and continents. This project was highly appreciated by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.

General Director of the Museum named after N.K. Roerich ICR Lyudmila Vasilievna Shaposhnikova was twice awarded state awards - the Order of Friendship and the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree. For outstanding services in organizing and implementing the restoration of an architectural monument of the 17th-19th centuries. “Lopukhin Estate”, which houses the public Museum named after N.K. Roerich L.V. Shaposhnikova was awarded the National Prize "Cultural Heritage". In 2010, the activities of L.V. Shaposhnikova received high European recognition. She became a laureate of the European Union Europa Nostra Award in the category “Selfless Work” for the preservation of cultural heritage. L.V. Shaposhnikova and the entire Museum staff complied with the will of S.N. Roerich, as set out in his article “You Can’t Delay!” – The ICR has become a center of attraction for everyone who cherishes the legacy of the Roerichs.

Unfortunately, there is a downside to this situation that needs to be mentioned. The development of the public museum took place in the face of constant opposition from government officials. The Ministry of Culture was unable to preserve the Roerichs’ legacy in Yu.N.’s apartment. Roerich, which fell into the hands of unauthorized persons and was sold. Instead, officials have been trying for many years to take away from the ICR the legacy bequeathed to him by S.N. Roerich, evict the public museum from the Lopukhins’ estate and create a state museum in it. The situation has become particularly aggravated recently. On the initiative of the Minister of Culture V.R. Medinsky The Lopukhins' estate was transferred from Moscow property to federal property, and then to the operational management of the Museum of the East. This attitude of cultural officials towards the Roerichs’ heritage is completely unacceptable.

While Russian President V.V. Putin instructs the Ministry of Culture to support those organizations that are involved in the protection of cultural heritage; government officials seek to destroy the public Museum named after N.K. Roerich. At their request, constant inspections of the ICR are carried out.

At one time, the Roerich Museum was destroyed in New York. The 3rd volume of correspondence between Svyatoslav Nikolayevich Roerich and Catherine Campbell, published by the ICR, is dedicated to these tragic events, which is especially important today. We need to understand the past, without which it is impossible to appreciate the present and find paths leading to the future.

Pavel Mikhailovich Zhuravikhin, First Deputy General Director of the Museum named after N.K. Roerich, spoke about his impressions of reading the new book. Many thoughts of S.N. Roerich, which he shares with K. Campbell, relate to the theme of a cultured person. It is believed that a cultured person is one who does not enter into any conflicts and does not fight with anyone. But in fact, a true cultural person is an active participant in the processes of cosmic evolution, which, first of all, are associated with the preservation and development of culture. But it is culture that is the field of struggle between Light and darkness. And without dedication and heroism, cosmic evolution, new ideas and new creativity, new cosmic consciousness associated with this evolution, and therefore with culture, cannot be realized on Earth.

Pavel Mikhailovich emphasized that the book that we are presenting today shows the views of S.N. Roerich on how to protect Culture and fight against darkness using the example of protecting the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York. The Roerichs' closest students, including the President of the Museum, Louis Horsch, betrayed their teachers and seized the Museum with all the paintings, as well as Elena Ivanovna's priceless diaries with records of the Teachings of Living Ethics.

In this difficult time, S.N. Roerich, in his letters, wisely and calmly guides Catherine Campbell’s actions to protect the Museum in New York, spiritually guides her, and explains the meaning and reasons for what is happening.

« Betrayal, – writes Svyatoslav Nikolaevich, – are the reagents that corrode the “slag”, and as a result, pure “gold” remains. ... This is a kind of test of the inner strength and truth of the movement. Betrayal produces the necessary “acid”, which corrodes the “accumulated toxins” in order to release the indestructible “gold”. No matter how difficult the “test” may be, the Truth and its followers will withstand it and, purified like gold, will “shine” even brighter"(Letter dated January 15, 1936).

“Our fight is a crusade for the Light, we are truly fighting for life itself. This is exactly how we should treat what is happening...” (Letter dated May 15, 1936).

It was these moral principles that underlay all the activities of Lyudmila Vasilievna Shaposhnikova to protect the heritage of the Roerichs and the public Museum named after N.K. Roerich, which she created, bringing to life the concept of S.N. Roerich on public culture. They are moral guidelines for our actions.

Tatyana Olegovna Knizhnik, editor-in-chief of the publishing department of the International Center of the Roerichs, emphasized that many parallels emerge between the tragic events that unfolded in the public institutions created by the father and son Roerichs. The Roerich Museum in New York received a serious blow after 12 years of its work, the Moscow Museum named after N.K. Roerich - 24 years after the founding of the SFR. In both cases, false documents were used, slander was spread, and pressure was exerted on the court; In both cases, the attackers managed to mislead the head of state. And if the American businessman Horsch believed that he had the right to demand back the amounts he donated to cultural institutions, then the Russian “cultural figures” were not going to invest anything, but were simply trying to appropriate the goods they liked, since they have administrative resources.

Among the honorary advisers of the first American museum were many “prominent figures of science, culture and government,” but almost all of them became indifferent witnesses to its usurpation and subsequent destruction. The museum was defended to the last, and then revived to a new life by people who did not have degrees or regalia, including the amazing woman Catherine Campbell, whose correspondence with her Friend and Mentor Svyatoslav Roerich is now published by the ICR. It was she who was the main organizer of the fight against the criminal “trio”, was present at almost all hearings, morally supported the fighting employees, looked for lawyers and allocated money to pay for their services. Devotion, fearlessness, the desire to lighten the burden of Teachers and friends - these are the qualities that allowed her to become a close collaborator of the Roerich family.

Katherine and her comrades experienced not only financial difficulties. It was monstrously difficult for them to be in the same space with former friends who became traitors, to witness the destruction of their entire life’s work, the insult of their Teachers and Ideals. It is not surprising that Svyatoslav Nikolaevich, on the pages of letters, supported his girlfriend, who was fighting on the front line, and explained to her the true reasons and meaning of the ongoing battle.

« The fight we are in is the greatest opportunity we all have., he writes. – Tell your friends who can understand this. The greatest opportunity that can be given to a person is the opportunity to stand up for Justice. He who evades, who does not understand this, will not be chosen by fate again to fight for the Great Cause. Only those who fought bravely, openly challenging the evil forces of darkness, were chosen by history as its heroes and true leaders in the struggle for the Common Good. Those who failed to understand the importance of this task, who shied away or remained silent under the influence of the whisperings of the egoistic [nature] or the voice of the self, will, at best, be forgotten, since the Good as such was not very attractive to them. They were unable to follow the evolutionary path and stay on the wave that lifted them above the crowd».

Both Svyatoslav Roerich and Catherine Campbell were true warriors in spirit, who considered it an honor to fight for a just cause. “We should be afraid of only one thing,” Svyatoslav Nikolaevich admonished his comrade-in-arms, “not fulfilling our duty, and also - saving our body and losing our soul.”

Elena Aleksandrovna Zakharova, senior researcher at the manuscripts department of the International Center of the Roerichs, noted the following.

In 1935 E.I. Roerich wrote: “The time will come when they will learn the whole truth about their (“trio”) heartless betrayal,” and this Correspondence is important because it provides evidence of direct participants in the historical drama that took place in the United States. As S.N. writes Roerich: “All great movements were marked by betrayal.” The betrayal of the Horschs began to take shape in the very early years of the work of the Roerich institutions in America. The Horsch couple came to an existing cultural institution - the Master School of United Arts, created by the Roerichs, Maurice and Zina Lichtman. But on the initiative of the Horshes, the School was transformed into a commercial institution, the Master-Institute, with equity capital. In February 1935, all shares were illegally transferred to Natty Horsch, and all the founding trustees of the institution were replaced by people loyal to the “trio”. As a result of the “reorganization” of the Roerich institutions, which was a consequence of non-payment of debt obligations on the Master Building, the building was transferred from the Roerich Museum to the Master Institute, the sole shareholder of which was Netti Horsch. To consolidate what they had achieved, the Horshes first discredited the name of N.K. Roerich through slanderous articles in newspapers, then, thanks to Horsch’s fraud, they initiated a case for non-payment to N.K. Roerich taxes for amounts that went towards expeditionary expenses (1925, 1926, 1934) and were not subject to taxation, and all this became possible thanks to the support of the Minister of Agriculture G. Wallace, who was involved with the Horschs in unscrupulous financial matters. Companions of the Roerichs filed a claim for shares, a claim for libel, a criminal breach of trust, a claim for paintings by N.K. Roerich, located in the Roerich Museum, and there were more than a thousand of them, etc. But US justice, with its pragmatism and cult of the dollar, turned out to be on the side of the criminals. The defense that spoke on the side of the Roerichs was not convincing, because it did not understand the scale of N.K.’s personality. Roerich. S.N. Roerich wrote: “The Father is a great Innovator, who gave the world a new direction of thought. The names of the Father and Mother will remain in the annals of History as the names of the great Reformers of thought. ˂…˃ The enormous influence [they have on the whole world] awakens the human spirit, drowned in the swamp of materialism.” There was no unity among the employees, and the help of the Museum's friends and the public turned out to be too sluggish and insignificant, which also affected the situation in court. In this volume we see only the beginning of the battle for institutions in the courts; its further development will be reflected in Volume IV of the correspondence.

Irina Yuryevna Dyachenko, senior researcher at the United Scientific Center for Problems of Cosmic Thinking, PhD in Cultural Studies, noted that the 3rd volume is different from the previous ones.

The 3rd volume contains letters from 1936, and this year was special, marked by the Roerichs as a year of testing for the entire planet. The world was moving towards a new world war, and it had already begun. The events taking place at that time have much in common with the current state of the planet. In this regard, the speech noted the scale of S.N.’s thinking. Roerich, his ability to embrace all the events taking place in the world in the context of the “change of great cycles”, global processes of world evolution. In this vein, he reflected on the world reconstruction, and on the situation with the destruction of the Roerich Museum in New York in the 1930s, and on the need to affirm spiritual values ​​as the only real ones in human existence.

S.N.’s help is enormous. Roerich in the implementation of the planetary mission of his parents - bringing the Teaching of Living Ethics into the world. Representing a consistent philosophical system, this Teaching is filled with high moral content, aimed at spiritualizing the entire life of a person, at elevating the role of Culture in it. Letters from S.N. Roerich - these are the same ideas of Living Ethics, refracted in his life, art and social activities. The characterization of S.N. is valuable for contemporaries and descendants. Roerich, given by him to the personality of N.K. Roerich as the greatest of artists, whose work carries a “spiritual message”. In its disclosure lies the problem of the modern understanding of the art and life of N.K. Roerich and his entire family.

The statements of S.N. are given. Roerich about the “spiritual battle” taking place in the world and shows the relevance of these thoughts for understanding the current difficult situation with the Museum named after N.K., created by him in his homeland. Roerich. “We need to work,” wrote S.N. Roerich, as if addressing the staff of this Museum, “regardless of the circumstances, use all our energy without reserve,” “We must look to the future.” And, he believed, there was only one thing to be afraid of: “not fulfilling one’s duty.”

Elvira Petrovna Chistyakova, Deputy Chairman of the International Council of Roerich Organizations named after S.N. Roerich, like previous speakers, drew attention to the relevance of the book. Correspondence from S.N. Roerich and K. Campbell can be called a relationship between Teacher and student. The current situation with the public museum named after N.K. Roerich in Moscow is very reminiscent of the events of 80 years ago in America. In the same way, attempts are being made to destroy the Museum named after N.K. Roerich with the involvement of state resources and ambitious figures. In Russia there is a silencing of the great Russian Roerich family, the philosophical Teaching of Living Ethics, 288 paintings bequeathed to S.N. are not recognized. Roerich ICR, are illegally held by the Museum of the East.

Svyatoslav Nikolaevich wrote to K. Campbell: “Either we trust the Knowledge of the Teacher, or we rely on our own opinion and then we take full responsibility upon ourselves.” L.V. Shaposhnikova always strictly followed the instructions of her Teacher - S.N. Roerich, and never made any compromises, so the public Museum named after N.K. Roerich in Moscow took place and is working. Unfortunately, there are people who do not recognize the will of S.N. Roerich, they try to change it or consider it outdated. “Instructions are given not in order to be rejected, but in order to be followed,” wrote Svyatoslav Nikolaevich. Therefore, his article “We must not hesitate!”, Appeal to the Roerich Societies of Russia and other independent states (1992) and letters to K. Campbell remain relevant today.

Olga Nikolaevna Kalinkina, chairman of the Perm regional branch of the International League for the Defense of Culture, member of the Council of the Perm regional branch of VOOPIiK, associate professor of the Perm National Research University, emphasized that in difficult times of crisis for Russia, when everything related to culture is reduced and limited, the Center -Museum named after N.K. Roerich continues the traditions of publishing activities associated with the publication of the Roerichs' heritage from its funds. Thus, he brings to life the cultural and educational directions that were laid down by S.N. Roerich and L.V. Shaposhnikova. The correspondence of Svyatoslav Roerich with Catherine Campbell, published by the ICR since 2012, is of exceptional historical, biographical and literary interest. Letters are a unique form of human self-expression, in which his individuality and uniqueness are manifested. They allow you to go through a certain segment of his life path with the author step by step, recreating his character traits, range of interests, and personal attitude to current events. This is a real school of wisdom and morality. It is impossible to overestimate the importance of the epistolary heritage of the Roerichs for the history of our culture. Svyatoslav Roerich and Catherine Campbell are not with us. But re-reading their letters is like traveling back in time. These are unique messages from the past to the future. The words of S.N. sound like parting words today. Roerich: " Let every day be marked by creative work, in the full sense of the word, and a miracle will happen.<…>Victory will be ours, although we may have to fight hard to get it. The harder the victory is, the greater the achievement».

At the end of the event dedicated to the memory of Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Roerich, the Indian classical dance ensemble “Odissi Javan Nritya” (artistic director Vitalina Lobach) performed. The audience was immersed in the enchanting atmosphere of Indian art and became acquainted with one of the eight recognized classical styles of Indian dances - Odissi.

Catherine Campbell. No later than 1945

Catherine Campbell, 1940s

S.N. Roerich "Catherine Campbell", 1950

I.M. and L.M. Bogdanov, D.R. Roerich, K. Campbell, I. Fritschi, Yu. N. Roerich, Kalimpong, India, 1951

Katherine Campbell, Moscow, 1979

S.N. Roerich “Portrait Catherine Campbell", 1926

S. N. Roerich “Portrait of Mrs. Catherine Campbell", 1929? G.

Campbell-Stibbe Katherine / Katherine S. Campbell (04/18/1898-10/8/1996)- employee of the Roerichs, philanthropist of Roerich family projects, vice-president of the Roerich Museum and the Agni Yoga Society, honorary president of the N.K. Roerich Museum in New York, member of the advisory board of the Roerich Pact Committee, vice-president of the American Branch of the World League of Culture, director American-Russian Cultural Association (ARCA), head of the Geneva Roerich Society "Corona Mundi", founder of the Roerich Society in Germany (together with G.I. Fricci). In some sources of the heritage of the Roerich family it is also referred to as “Amrida”.

Biographical milestones

Unfortunately, little information remains about Catherine Campbell. She left behind no memoirs or memories about her life and her Teachers, because she believed that innermost feelings could not be conveyed on paper. Archival photographs capture a woman of amazing beauty, whose appearance is full of spirituality and inner depth. Her beautiful portraits by Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Roerich involuntarily fascinate. It is safe to say that the cardinal milestone in her life was her acquaintance with the Roerich family in the 20-30s of the 20th century.

Katherine Campbell (nee Smith) was born on April 18, 1898. In her youth she showed promise as a film actress. In 1921(?) she married Henry Campbell, who was 23 years older than her. In 1922, their son Spencer was born. Henry Campbell attended the Theosophical Lodge. It was probably through him that Catherine first became acquainted with theosophical ideas.

At the age of eighteen, Katherine met Ingeborg Fritschi, who remained her friend and companion until old age (they passed away in the same year with a difference of several months).

Not everything in Katherine’s life was easy and smooth, and material well-being was not always constant: “... Amr[ida’s] funds are running out. After all, her husband cannot even give her enough for household expenses and her son’s education. He had to borrow a decent amount of money” (from a letter from E. Roerich).

On November 20, 1944, Katherine suffered a terrible grief - she lost her only son, Spencer (at the age of 22), who volunteered for the front. Having lost her only son, Katherine stoically continued to work for the common Good. “I rejoice at Katherine, maybe she senses how her image lives in my heart and how I appreciate all her worries about business. Truly, my heart is full of gratitude...,” wrote Elena Ivanovna Roerich.

A faithful collaborator who took an active part in the international Roerich movement until her last day, Katherine Campbell-Stibbe left the earthly plane at the age of 98 on August 10, 1996.

Acquaintance and cooperation with the Roerichs

On December 9, 1924, in the ballet studio “Master Institute,” Katherine met Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Roerich, posed for his portraits and became friends with him. In 1929, Catherine met Nicholas Roerich. From the beginning of the 30s, he became acquainted with Living Ethics and began to actively collaborate with other members of the Roerich family. In a letter dated December 8, 1931, Elena Ivanovna Roerich addresses Catherine as “a new member of our community” and answers her question about what direction of activity is best to follow.

Until 1934, the Roerichs' attitude towards Catherine was wary. But since 1935, attitudes towards it have changed dramatically. “Dear, dear Katrin, how she helps! - Elena Ivanovna Roerich writes to America on December 10, 1935. “The Lord sends her a Ray.” “Our Amridochka helps in every way she can, so let our greatest gratitude live in the hearts of all our closest employees.” “Only in battle and in times of need do we show our true essence,” and that was exactly the case with Katherine. Amridochka helped us a lot. If it weren’t for her, we would not be able to maintain either the Center in Paris or pay our political nanny here (British Colonel A.E. Mahon)....”

At the beginning of cooperation in 1931, Katherine Campbell handled the clerical work of the World Cultural League and soon became vice president of the American Branch of this organization. Afterwards she was responsible for the Book of Friends of the N.K. Roerich Museum, was a member of the Committee for the publication of books of Living Ethics ("Agni Yoga Publications"), the Committee of the Roerich Pact and the Banner of Peace, and established contacts with influential people. Since the early 30s, she has donated money for the publication of books and other events. Since 1932, I bought and received paintings by Nikolai Konstantinovich as gifts. To support Roerich's institutions, Catherine cuts her family's expenses and contributes about $30,000 to support the N. Roerich Museum. Until 1938, he regularly sent small sums ($200-300) to support the European Center at the Roerich Museum (Paris), small sums to support the Urusvati Institute (Kullu, India). Even her son, from his money allocated for personal expenses, allocates 25 dollars to support the institute.

Since 1935, since the beginning of the conflict and litigation between the Roerichs and the financier L. Horsch, Katherine has been actively involved in protecting the interests of the Roerichs and Roerich institutions. Together with other employees of the Roerichs, he organizes the Committee for the Protection of the Museum, contributes funds to support the work of institutions, coordinates work with lawyers and assistants, and organizes events to protect the Roerich heritage. As a co-owner of the Picture Corporation, Katherine participated in the lawsuit against L. Horsch and filed several lawsuits against him. As a result, she manages to rescue dozens of paintings by N.K. Roerich.

Since 1935, E.I. Roerich and other employees of the Roerichs trusted Katherine with the storage of the painting. E.I. Roerich gave her the entries from her diary from 1935 for storage (later they were transferred to the New York Roerich Museum). Katherine kept Roerich's publications on her farm and distributed them. In 1946, Katherine participated in the preparation for the publication of the brochure “Banner of Peace”, and later in the publication of the translation of “Living Ethics” (Agni Yoga) and the two-volume “Letters of Helena Roerich” in English (1954).

At the beginning of 1949, after many years of struggle, Catherine Campbell sought the transfer to her of 106 paintings by N.K. Roerich, seized by US legal services during the legal battle with L. Horsch.

In 1949, Catherine Campbell became vice-president of the Roerich Museum and the Agni Yoga Society, and was also the chief trustee of the Roerich Museum in New York (honorary president), a member of the advisory board of the Roerich Pact Committee and one of the directors of ARCA (American-Russian Cultural Association ).

In the same year, 1949, industrialist and collector B. Bolling bought a building in New York for the new Roerich Museum (319 West 107th Street). Bolling later gives up the building to her husband, Katherine Campbell. In 1975, after the death of her husband, Katherine transferred the building into full ownership of the museum.

Catherine Campbell visited Helena Ivanovna Roerich in India in December 1949 - February 1950, February-April 1951 and March-April 1952. "...an employee close to us from previous lives..." ("Letters to America", 12/8/1931), "...a sensitive soul. I am even amazed at her observation and sensitivity" ("Letters to America", 12/17. 1949), "...a faithful employee" ("Letters to America", 2.4.1950), "There is a lot of generosity and kindness in her" ("Letters to America", 22.9.1950).

In the early 60s, the museum began producing postcards and reproductions of works by N.K. Roerich. The start of this project was funded by Catherine Campbell. She also paid for the publication of translations of some books of Agni Yoga (Living Ethics) into English.

In the late 60s, Catherine Campbell acquired the Architectural series of paintings by N.K. Roerich (42 sketches), located in the Oakland Art Museum (California).

In the late 70s, Catherine Campbell, together with G.I. Fritchi, created the “Corona Mundi” association in Geneva, which coordinated the publications of Roerich literature and art products in Europe.

In the late 80s, Catherine Campbell also, together with G.I. Fritchi, organized the Roerich Society in Germany (Roerich Gesellschaft Deutschland), built a house for it, sponsored translations and publications of Agni Yoga books and the publication of the Roerich Forum magazine.

In 1977, 1978, 1979, 1986 and 1991. Catherine Campbell visits the USSR. During a visit in 1979, Catherine Campbell visited Novosibirsk for one day (July 23, 1979), where in the House of Scientists of Akademgorodok she handed over to the Society for the Protection of Monuments and Cultural Values ​​the “Banner of Peace” intended for Siberia, made according to the sketches of N.K. Roerich. On the same day, the “Banner of Peace” was handed over to the climbers to the top of Urusvati (Altai). Now this banner is kept in the N.K. Roerich Museum in Novosibirsk.

In 1974, on the advice of S.N. Roerich and the active participation of G.P. Popov (director of the State Museum of Oriental Art), during the anniversary celebrations in Moscow on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of N.K. Roerich, Catherine draws up a gift in favor of the USSR for 42 architectural studies of N.K. Roerich 1903 -4 years (Architectural series). In 1977, Katherine donated to the USSR paintings by N.K. Roerich of the Russian series and paintings of the Himalayan cycle, a collection of oriental bronzes, some personal belongings of the Roerichs, and in 1978 - an additional collection of paintings by N.K. Roerich (22 large paintings) and paintings by S.N. Roerich (including a portrait of N.K. Roerich) and a large archival fund (books, photographs, letters of N.K. and Yu.N. Roerichs 1934-5, diaries of the Roerichs and L. Horsch , personal belongings of N.K. Roerich, works of art brought by the Roerichs from Asia). In total, Catherine Campbell was donated to the USSR by 42 sketches and 80 paintings by N.K. Roerich.

These gifts became the basis for the permanent exhibition and the Memorial Cabinet of N.K. Roerich (a specialized complex repository created for scientific work with the artist’s legacy) and the archival fund “Heritage of the Roerichs” in the State Museum of Oriental Art. The archive, according to the will, was opened in 2003.

From 1925 until 1993, Katherine Campbell was in correspondence with S.N. Roerich (excerpts published in the "Bulletin of Ariavarta" in 2008 (issue 10), most fully in 4 volumes by the International Center of the Roerichs /Moscow/ in 2013 year).

Portraits made by S.N. Roerich

All portraits of Catherine Campbell are extremely romantic. Two large portraits of her, painted by S.N. Roerich in Paris in 1926 and 1927, depict an elegant society lady in fashionable toilets. The portrait of Katherine in a striped dress and turban is unusually decorative, all built on the contrasts of white, black, gray, softened by soft pink tones. The background is almost black, the whole figure seems to be highlighted, snatched from the darkness, as if on stage. In the second large portrait, the artist presented Catherine Campbell against the background of a panel depicting a dragon and a phoenix bird: Chinese symbolism testifies to her great interest in Eastern philosophy. In a small portrait from 1950, the artist emphasizes the unusually sad eyes: Catherine deeply felt the loss of her son during the war. The portrait was painted in India, in Kalimpong, where she came to visit the Roerichs and discuss matters related to the N. Roerich Museum in New York and other organizations in which she participated since fate brought her together with the Roerich family and gave her It is a great happiness to be a close friend to them.

In “Portrait of Mrs. Catherine Campbell” (1929?) S.N. Roerich delicately and subtly conveyed the beauty and integrity of her nature. A soft shadow falls on the face of a young lady wearing a coquettish straw hat. Sunlight breaks through its wide fields with light and ringing strokes. It shimmers with all the shades of orange and blue summer, disturbs the curls and opens the gaze of beautiful eyes, in which an inquisitive thought reflects the complex movement of the soul, spiritualizing the face. The whole image breathes calmness and sincerity, special warmth, leaving the viewer with an indelible impression of contact with beauty. It should be noted that it was this portrait “in a straw hat, made in Switzerland” that Elena Ivanovna Roerich loved very much (Letter from Helena I. Roerich to Z. G. Lichtman and K. Campbell dated June 24, 1937). Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Roerich praised Beauty in all its manifestations. The aesthetics of the ugly was absolutely alien to him: “I was often asked why I don’t convey the negative aspects of life. My answer is that they exist, and we should know everything, but in art they are already recorded! If in life we ​​can move away from this, then this negative conveyed in the picture begins to live its own life and, of course, becomes the beginning that we can no longer avoid - it is fixed. All life strives for beauty...”

Australian artist Catherine Campbell paints fragile girls with blush on their cheeks. Each of them personifies a small fairy tale that happened at one time or another in the artist’s life, and all together, according to Katherine, they resemble her diary, where instead of notes there are drawings.

The artist describes her work as drawings that she creates using fine ink lines, colored paper and watercolors. In the center of most of her images is a female figure, which symbolizes the idea of ​​femininity. Recently, the artist has been paying special attention to two separate themes in depicting the environment of her heroines, painting them against the backdrop of the sea or a house. According to Katherine, these two themes represent different levels of stability or instability. And if you don’t delve into philosophy, then the artist simply likes the visual picture that results.

Katherine is fond of tattoos, and although she herself only has one tattoo, the artist’s heroines have many of them. But they don’t mean anything special: according to Katherine, they are designed to create and emphasize the marine atmosphere in her paintings.

The artist is always open to collaboration and often performs commissioned works. For example, she designed wrapping paper for Frankie magazine.

Katherine loves to read. She spends a lot of time in the State Library of Melbourne, looking at reproductions of paintings, and she also likes to drink coffee on the narrow streets of the city and watch passers-by. The girl is in love with her city. She claims that Melbourne has a huge number of talented people, communication with whom inspires her to create new works.