Muna Madan
signed ‘Bangdel’ lower right
Details
- Title : Lain Singh Bangdel (Nepalese, 1919-2002)
- Year : 1919-2002
- Artist : LAIN SINGH BANGDEL
- Classification : Paintings
- Medium : oil on canvas, framed
- Dimension : 25.5 x 16.5cm (10 1/16 x 6 1/2in)
- Accession No : ITEM 11
- Country/ Geo-location : Nepal
- Collection : Bonhams
- Status : AUCTION at BONHAMS London, New Bond Street
- Auction Viewings ( AS PER BONHAMS WEBSITE) 11/21/2023 : 11 November 2023, 11:00 - 15:00 GMT 12 November 2023, 11:00 - 15:00 GMT 13 November 2023, 09:00 - 16:30 GMT 14 November 2023, 09:00 - 16:30 GMT 15 November 2023, 09:00 - 16:30 GMT 16 November 2023, 09:00 - 16:30 GMT 17 November 2023, 09:00 - 16:30 GMT 20 November 2023, 09:00 - 16:30 GMT 21 November 2023, 09:00 - 16:30 GMT
- Provenance : Property from the Collection of the Bangdel-Shakya Estate, Virginia, USA
- Footnotes : During his time in Europe, Bangdel remained deeply connected to Nepal, publishing several novels, travelogs, and articles in Nepali. Keenly aware of contemporary literature from Nepal, this painting depicts the departing scene from Muna Madan, an extended love poem by Laxmi Prasad Devkota (1909-1959). A frequent painting subject for Bangdel, an earlier gouache of the same scene also appears in this exhibition. Here, the newly married Nepali couple embraces as the husband leaves for Tibet in search of work, a narrative that Bangdel identified with as a Nepali working abroad. With portraiture and figure painting, Bangdel was able to present the struggles of humanity and his continued cultural engagement with Nepal from abroad before his homecoming in 1961. While the story of Muna Madan and Nepali migrant workers used to be geographically limited to Tibet and India, such stories of hardship remain relevant. In the last few decades, migration from Nepal has increased, and has outstretched to Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, and the Gulf countries.