Kara Khota: The Story of a Lost City the Wind Buried by Bertha Lum
Kara Khota: The Story of a Lost City the Wind Buried
Bertha Lum
Title
Kara Khota: The Story of a Lost City the Wind Buried
Artist
Year
c. 1910
Technique
graphite drawing with white gouache highlights
Image Size
14 3/4 x 13" image
Signature
"Berll" Lum in lower right within image
Edition Size
1 of 1 unique
Annotations
Kara Khota Story of a lost city the wind buried /published in World Traveler
Reference
Paper
illustration board
State
Publisher
Inventory ID
CAAL129
Price
$4,500.00
Description
This drawing, done in graphite with white gouache highlights on thick illustration board was done by Bertha Lum around 1928 to accompany a story by her 20 year old daughter Balliet (Catherine) about the lost city of Kara Khota for the magazine World Traveler (pages 39 & 55). Lum would sometimes use a sort of pen name for her illustrative work, in this case signing the work as "Berll Lum." Written in pencil on the verso of the drawing is "Kara Khota Story of a lost city the wind buried /published in World Traveler" Lum was fascinated by the folk tales of Japan and China and many of her images were based on the witches, goblins and other characters and events from these tales. "Kara Khota" is the story of the lost city of gold, buried under sand in the Gobi desert in Mongolia. In this drawing she depicts a devil wind setting down as the residents scatter. The ruins, buried under up to 50 feet of sand and rock, was partially excavated by the Russian archeologist Peter Kozlov in 1896. It was immortalized in 1920 by author James Churchwood in a series of 5 books about the Lost Continent of Mu.