Lain Singh Bangdel / Lain Bangdel (Rai) ( ne, लैनसिंह बाङ्देल (राई)) (1919– October 15, 2002), was

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

's foremost artist, novelist, and art historian. In addition to being a leading authority on Nepalese art, Bangdel is best known as the "father of modern art" and was responsible for introducing the modern trends of

Western art The art of Europe, or Western art, encompasses the history of visual art in Europe. European prehistoric art started as mobile Upper Paleolithic rock and cave painting and petroglyph art and was characteristic of the period between the Paleol ...

into

("Bangdel era") with his pioneering one-man exhibition in

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

in 1962. As a novelist, he introduced realistic writing in

Nepali literature Nepali literature ( ne, नेपाली साहित्य) refers to literature written in the Nepali language. The Nepali language has been the national language of Nepal since 1958.Himalayan Voices: An Introduction to Modern Nepali Lite ...

during his period in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

during the 1940s. Born in Darjeeling, India, he studied in Calcutta until 1951, lived in London and Paris until 1961, and finally came to his homeland

in 1961. He also served as Life-Member, Vice-Chancellor, and finally Chancellor of the

Royal Nepal Academy The Nepal Academy ( ne, नेपाल प्रज्ञा–प्रतिष्ठान), formerly known as Royal Nepal Academy ( ne, नेपाल राजकीय प्रज्ञा–प्रतिष्ठान), is an autonomo ...

(1962-1991).

Early life and career

Bangdel was born in 1919 in

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal, ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

to a family from

Khotang district Khotang District ( ne, खोटाङ जिल्ला) is one of 14 districts of Province No. 1 of eastern Nepal. The district, with Diktel as its district headquarters, covers an area of and has a population (2021) of 206,312.Eastern Nepal The Eastern Development Region ( Nepali: पुर्वाञ्चल विकास क्षेत्र, ''Purwānchal Bikās Kshetra'') was one of Nepal's five development regions. It is also known as Kirata region. It was located at th ...

. His father was Rangalal Rai, and his mother's name was Bimala Rai. He spent his youth in a Himalayan village and, later, graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from the Government College of Arts and Crafts in

in 1945 with a first-class-first. He wrote popular novels in Nepali ''Muluk Bahira, Maitaghar and Langada ko saathi''(first realistic literature in Nepali) during his Calcutta stay. In 1952, he traveled to Europe where he studied art in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. These formative years in Paris was critical time for him, where he met and developed close friendships with other international artists including the Indian artists

Paritosh Sen Paritosh Sen ( bn, পরিতোষ সেন) (26 September 1918 – 22 October 2008) was a leading Indian artist. He was born in Dhaka (then known as Dacca), the present-day capital of Bangladesh. He was a founder member of the Calcutta ...

, Padamsee, the Indonesian artist

Affandi Affandi (18 May 1907 – 23 May 1990) was an Indonesian artist. Born in Cirebon, West Java, as the son of R. Koesoema, who was a surveyor at a local sugar factory, Affandi finished his upper secondary school in Jakarta. He gave up his studies to ...

, and Austrian artist

Soshana Afroyim Soshana Afroyim (born Susanne Schüller; September 1, 1927 – December 9, 2015) was an Austrian painter of the Modernism period. Soshana was a full-time artist and traveled frequently, exhibiting her work internationally. During her journeys, s ...

. While in Paris in the 1950s, his meetings with

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

and

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculpture, sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his all ...

made a deep impression. Bangdel was the first Nepali artist to study and work in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and made a name for himself as an artist with his distinctive, non-traditional

ese style.

Work

Bangdel stayed in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

until he was invited by the late

King Mahendra Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev ( ne, श्री ५ महाराजाधिराज महेन्द्र वीर विक्रम शाह देव; 11 June 1920 – 31 January 1972) was the King of Nepal from 13 March 1955 until h ...

to establish the modern art movement in

in 1961. From 1968 to 1969, he served as a Fulbright Professor at

Denison University Denison University is a private liberal arts college in Granville, Ohio. One of the earliest colleges established in the former Northwest Territory, Denison University was founded in 1831. The college was first called the Granville Literary and ...

in Ohio and taught Nepali History of Art. He was elected to head the

in 1972 and, during two terms, he dedicated himself to further research of

Nepalese painting Nepalese Painting or Nepali Painting begins with the religious paintings with Hindu and Buddhist subjects, almost all Newa art by the Newari people of the Kathmandu valley. These traditional paintings can be found in the form of either wall pain ...

and art history. In the years from 1982 to 1991, he published his groundbreaking studies on Nepalese art history, including ''Early Sculptures of Nepal (1982).'' ''2500 Years of Nepalese Art (German Edition, 1985 ),'
Stolen Images of Nepal (1989)
''Inventory of Stone Sculptures of the Kathmandu Valley'' (1991). His many accolades include the "Commendatore" from the

Italian Government The government of Italy is in the form of a democratic republic, and was established by a constitution in 1948. It consists of legislative, executive, and judicial subdivisions, as well as a Head of State, or President. The Italian Constitutio ...

for his contribution in the field of Arts and the "National Order of Arts and Letters" from the Republic of France (France's highest honor in the field of Arts). In addition, he was awarded

Knight Commander Commander ( it, Commendatore; french: Commandeur; german: Komtur; es, Comendador; pt, Comendador), or Knight Commander, is a title of honor prevalent in chivalric orders and fraternal orders. The title of Commander occurred in the medieval mili ...

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, o ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. After his retirement from the Royal Nepal Academy, Bangdel engaged with renewed effort and success in his painting activities, and further documented the rich and unique art history of the

Kathmandu Valley The Kathmandu Valley ( ne, काठमाडौं उपत्यका; also known as the Nepal Valley or Nepa Valley ( ne, नेपाः उपत्यका, Nepal Bhasa: 𑐣𑐾𑐥𑐵𑑅 𑐐𑐵𑑅, नेपाः गाः)), ...

. Lain Singh Bangdel died in 2002. His extraordinary life has been documented in a book entitled
Against the Current: The Life of Lain Singh Bangdel-Writer, Painter and Art Historian of Nepal
, by Don Messerschmidt and Dina Bangdel (Bangkok: Orchid Press, 2004; ).His biography by Narendra Raj Prasai is also available in Nepali and English translation(The Glory of Nepal). His memoirs of his Paris years (1952–61) was published in 2010:

(edited by Dina Bangdel, Kathmandu: Ratna Pustak Bhandar, 2010) and was awarded the "2010 Book of the Year."

References

External links

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070625114958/http://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/loststolen/lsnepal.html Lost and Stolen Images: Nepal
CPProt.net New Nepal art history 'Book triggers debate on history'

Lain’s legacy- Nepali Times

Fine Arts Nepal, a mosiac way to see Nepal

Lain Singh Bangdel: Interviews: Traditional Nepalese Arts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bangdel, LS Nepalese artists 1919 births 2002 deaths People from Darjeeling Nepalese male writers Art historians Government College of Art & Craft alumni University of Calcutta alumni Indian people of Nepalese descent Indian emigrants to Nepal Rai people