Lola Lonli - Archive

Exhibition "New World" at Public museum named after N.K.Roerich in Moscow

In 2017, the N.K.Roerich Public Museum and International Center of Roerichs were in a very difficult situation. The onslaught of the Ministry of Culture and the State Museum of Oriental Art (GMV), which set themselves the task of destroying the Public Museum, was increasing day by day. On March 7, 2017 representatives of these organizations invaded the building of the Museum and seized about 200 paintings and drawings of Roerichs.

Having heard about the incident, Lola Lonli proposed to the management of the Museum to hold an exhibition of her paintings. In this situation, it was very risky. Everyone knew that in the near future there may be repeated attacks on the Museum and seizure of his property, including paintings from the exhibition halls, as acting Director General of the Public Museum named after N.K.Roerich Natalia Nikolaevna Cherkashina said in her speech at the opening of the exhibition. Despite this, Lola on her own initiative gives more than 100 of her works to the Museum. The exposition consisted of two parts - retrospective of the author's works since 1993 and the cycle "New World", created by Lola in recent years in a new unique technique. In this cycle, according to N.N.Cherkashina, the artist was able to visually express one of the ideas of philosophy of the Roerich family - the union of the physical and energy worlds.

On April 28, 2017, there was an illegal seizure of the Museum by representatives of the GMV with the support of the Ministry of Culture. Lola Lonli's paintings were blocked in the exhibition halls of the Museum, and it was not possible to get information about the safety of the artworks, their condition and in general whether they will be returned to the author. In addition, the "captivity" included an exhibition of works by Lola's students from the "Treasure of the World" studio, which she conducted at the Museum. All paintings of Lola and her students were taken back only 3 months after the capture, as a result of heavy and long negotiations with representatives of the GMV. Unfortunately, none of the Roerich's heritage, including paintings, diaries, collections and personal items, has been returned to its rightful owner, the International Center of Roerich, and the staus of the heritage is currently unknown.

To date, the Ministry of Culture and the GMW have destroyed the Museum's exposition, taken everything out of the halls and storages to an unknown location, and handed the building itself over to Puskin Art museum for youth club. But we believe that the Public Museum named after N.K.Roerich will be reborn and we encourage everyone to contribute to it. #saveroerichmuseum