The late Sir Lain Singh Bangdel, artist, writer, and art historian, is a distinguished figure in Nepal in the field of art, literature, and culture. A forerunner of the modern art movement, he is also best known as the father of modern art in Nepal. He completed his art education at the Calcutta College of Art, graduating first in his class in 1945 before going on to study at the I’Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts, in Paris. In France, he met many renowned contemporary artists during the formative stage of his professional career, such as Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. His unique style of work, influenced, in part, by established artists of the era, his paintings are a rare synthesis of the traditional and the modern that has given rise to a style truly international in character. After establishing his artistic career in Europe in the 1950s, in 1960 the then King Mahendra invited Lain to move to Nepal to become a member of the Royal Nepal Academy in Kathmandu, where he would further pursue his art. He gracefully accepted the offer, since returning to his homeland was the realization of one of his lifelong dreams. Under King Birendra, he was later promoted and served two terms as Chancellor of the Royal Nepal Academy from 1979 to 1989.
Bangdel first exhibited his works to a western public in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1954 and later in Paris. He held his first solo exhibition in Paris, in 1955, and again in London, in 1959. He also participated in many group shows in several venues throughout Europe. His first solo exhibition in Nepal was held in 1962, and he would later participate in many other group exhibitions in the years that followed. He organized a successful solo exhibition in Philadelphia, United States of America, in 1991.
Bangdel organized several outstanding exhibitions and was able to open new vistas in modern art to new generations of Nepalese artists. In addition to his prolific career in the visual arts, Bangdel left a commendable legacy to Nepal by donating meticulous documentation on Nepalese arts and artifacts compiled over the course of a professional life in Nepal spanning forty years. Drawing on this documentation, his book Stolen Images of Nepal set out to prove the stolen cultural heritage of his country, and was hence extremely helpful in facilitating the return of several important objets d’art in Nepal.
In commemoration of his outstanding achievements in art, culture, and literature, he was awarded the Gorkha Dakshin Bahu II, by the King of Nepal in 1982. His accolades also include the Commendatore from the Italian Government for his contribution in the field of art, and the National Order of Arts and Letters, from the Republic of France (France’s highest honour in the field of art). He was also awarded the prestigious Knight Commander of Royal Victorian Order by Great Britain, hence earning the title Sir Lain Singh Bangdel.
Written by Swosti Rajbhandari Kayastha
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