Oil on canvas, signed in the lower right.
Marc Ngandu (Ngandu Muela Kabengi Babu) was born in 1934 in Luebo, went to high school in Luluabourg, and then took courses at the Ecole d'art de Ngandajika. Having proved to be a good draughtsman from a young age, he followed a few classes at Ngandajika and, from 1950, he began to live from his works. In 1953 he met other painters in Kinshasa, in particular the painter of Portuguese Origin Marquez. In 1954, he received the second prize at the Artisanal exhibition of Leopoldville and, in 1955, a Grand Prix at the Biennale des Arts Congolese (Kasai).
In 1955, he exhibited his works at the Museum of Indigenous Life in Leopoldville and toured the Belgian Congo to prepare for the World Expo in Brussels in 1958. In the '60s, he took courses at Art in Ixelles (Brussels) and participated in exhibitions in France and Germany. He often uses the technique of the light-obscure in his paintings depicting landscapes or portraits. In 1957, King Leopold III and the Princess Liliane of Belgium acquired some of his works. In 1958, at the governor's residence in Bukavu, Queen Elisabeth of Belgium bought one of his paintings for her private collection. In 1963, he exhibited for the first time in Bruges and other places in Belgium. He then went on a European tour and showed him in Germany and France in particular. From 1965 to 1967, he took courses at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ixelles, where he received a mention at the end of his studies; But having experienced difficult times with the Mobutu regime (in 1978-79), he went into exile and settled in Belgium.
