LOT 44
YONG MUN SEN
B. Sarawak, 1896 – 1962
Bougainvilla Garden, 1948
Watercolour on paper
27 x 37.5 cm
Private Collection, Kuala Lumpur
Signed and dated “Mun Sen 1948” on lower left
RM 12,000 – 18,000
Yong Mun Sen was born in 1896 in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on his family’s coconut plantation. At a young age he travelled to Guangdong in China to receive a formal education in the traditional art of calligraphy, returning home in 1910. In 1914 he returned to China to further his artistic knowledge, and at this point he discovered the medium of oil on canvas.
Over the course of his career, the largely self-taught Yong Mun Sen gained critical acclaim and recognition for his blend of traditional Chinese painting techniques with contemporary Western influences. His particular forte was watercolour painting and he created idyllic landscapes and scenes of pastoral life in his homeland. Yong Mun Sen died in 1962, and in recent years his nostalgic artworks have achieved impressive prices at auction. Today he is regarded as one of the country’s most influential and important artists, and is widely acknowledged as the father of modern Malaysian painting.