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Ngwe Gaing ( my, ငွေကိုင် ; 1901–1967) was a Burmese artist who worked in both oil and watercolor. After the death of his teacher
Ba Nyan Ba Nyan ( my, ဘဉာဏ်, ; 1897 – 12 October 1945) was a Burmese painter who has been called the greatest name in modern painting in Myanmar. His oil paintings were quiet and academic in their style, but display occasional flashes of vi ...
, he was recognized as the greatest living painter in
Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
. He had great influence on the next generation of artists, and his works are now highly sought after.


Life

Of
Burmese Chinese Chinese Burmese, also Sino-Burmese or Tayoke, are a Burmese citizens of full or partial Chinese ancestry. They are group of overseas Chinese born or raised in Myanmar (Burma). As of 2012, the Burmese Chinese population is estimated to be as h ...
ancestry, Ngwe Gaing was born in Myeik and was raised in
Dawei Dawei (, ; mnw, ဓဝဲါ, ; th, ทวาย, RTGS: ''Thawai'', ; formerly known as Tavoy) is a city in south-eastern Myanmar and is the capital of the Tanintharyi Region, formerly known as the Tenasserim Division, on the northern bank of ...
. He was initially self-taught and then improved his skills via an American correspondence painting course. He was forced to work at a number of menial jobs until he was able to support himself as an artist. He was first taught by
Po Aung Po Aung is a village in Bhamo Township in Bhamo District in the Kachin State of north-eastern Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British Engli ...
and later by Ba Ohn and Ba Sein, finally becoming a pupil of the famous artist
Ba Nyan Ba Nyan ( my, ဘဉာဏ်, ; 1897 – 12 October 1945) was a Burmese painter who has been called the greatest name in modern painting in Myanmar. His oil paintings were quiet and academic in their style, but display occasional flashes of vi ...
, after Ba Nyan returned from England in 1930. Ngwe Gaing, however, was not a formal live-in apprentice of Ba Nyan, rather studying with Ba Nyan on weekends in his free time. With Ba Nyan's death in 1945, Ngwe Gaing was recognized as Burma's leading artist. During a drive to stamp out corruption in the post-independence period, he collaborated with the cartoonist
Ba Gyan Ba Gyan ( my, ဘဂျမ်း ; 1902–1953) was a pioneering Burmese cartoonist, who created the first cartoon movie released in Burma in 1935. Ba Gyan's cartoons covered a wide variety of topics and events, and ridiculed human frailties s ...
to produce a series of powerful and effective posters. In 1952 he was sent to England for a year, where he painted copies of Burmese antiquities in the
Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
. In 1953, he was given the title ''Alinga Kyawzwa'', the highest title that can be bestowed on an artist in Burma. In his private life, Ngwe Gaing was also a well known alchemist and clairvoyant. He was an honest, hardworking and unassuming person.


Work

Ngwe Gaing was a prolific and versatile painter who worked in both oil and watercolour (both transparent and gouache), and he also did pencil drawings. His subjects comprised a wide range—historical paintings, landscapes, portraits, and still life. His oil paintings were meticulous in their attention to detail. They typically used heavily but carefully applied brush strokes, in the impasto style, and an array of complex colour designs. According to the artist Min Naing, he excelled in his choice of "poster subjects and settings". Another commentator, speaking of his series of large historical panels, said his power perhaps showed to better advantage in easel works such as the romantic "Recluse in the Forest" or a graceful portrait of one of Burma's classical dancers. He painted stage settings for films on traditional themes before the war, and when there was a vogue for stage plays after World War II, he painted stage settings for the makeshift Myaing Theatre in the Kandawgyi Park. Some of his paintings were huge, up to , such as a work he executed in 1963 for the first Workers Conference. He painted portraits of notable people such as President
Ba U Sir Ba U ( my, ဘဦး, ; 26 May 1887 – 9 November 1963), was a Burmese politician and lawyer. He served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Burma from 1948 to 1952, and the second president of Burma from 16 March 1952 to 13 March 1957 ...
, film star
Wah Wah Win Shwe Wah Wah Win Shwe ( my, ဝါဝါဝင်းရွှေ, also spelt War War Win Shwe) is a three-time Myanmar Academy Award winning Burmese film actress. She is considered one of the most commercially successful actresses in the Myanmar ent ...
and film director Shumawa U Kyaw. His mnemonic powers in Burma, in which he painted portraits of subjects from memory, were famous in Burma, although he is also known to have started a painting from a photograph and then only require the model for the final stages. He made a series of paintings of historic events, including "The Battle of Shwedaung", "The Flag Hoisting Ceremony on Independence Day", "The Panlong Accord" and "the Nay Thurein Congress". Other works depicted scenes of the Jataka tales, and events in the life of the
Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...
. He traveled widely in Burma to find subjects, making sketches that he would later paint in oils or watercolours, often scenes of the daily life of ordinary people and particularly portraits of Burma's many ethnic peoples. The latter subject was a major enterprise which he embarked upon.


Legacy

The Shan State Museum holds two of his classic works: "The Hopong Springs" and "The Stately Procession of the Hpaung-Daw-Oo Buddha Images". The National Museum in Yangon displays other masterpieces including "the Isle of Myeik", "Scenic Ranaung", "The Inlay Floating Bazaar", "Scenic Environs of Dawei", "Maungmagan" and "Some of our Ethnic Brethren". His last work was a series of scenes from the Jatakas for the "Shwe Mokhti" pagoda in Dawei, where they hang in the covered passageways to the pagoda. Works by Ngwe Gaing are also held in the Singapore Art Museum and other prominent regional collections. Ngwe Gaing is considered one of the great masters of modern Burmese painting. He made an outstanding contribution through his versatility, technical skill and influence on a generation of Burmese painters. In the post-WWII years, many painters sought instruction from Ngwe Gaing, packing his studio to watch him work, just as painters had flocked to
Ba Nyan Ba Nyan ( my, ဘဉာဏ်, ; 1897 – 12 October 1945) was a Burmese painter who has been called the greatest name in modern painting in Myanmar. His oil paintings were quiet and academic in their style, but display occasional flashes of vi ...
in the pre-war years. Among the painters influenced by Ngwe Gaing were Myat Kyaw, San Win, Hla Shein, Ko Lay, Hla Maung Gyi, Nann Wai, Thein, Han Tin, San Pe, M. Tin Aye, and Lun Gywe.


Museum and Library Collections

* National Museum of Myanmar *
Singapore Art Museum The Singapore Art Museum (Abbreviation: SAM) is an art museum is located in the Downtown Core district of Singapore. It is the first fully dedicated contemporary visual arts museum in Singapore with one of the world’s most important public co ...
* (Yangon) Universities Central Library * Tatmadaw efense ServicesMuseum, Yangon


See also

*
Ba Nyan Ba Nyan ( my, ဘဉာဏ်, ; 1897 – 12 October 1945) was a Burmese painter who has been called the greatest name in modern painting in Myanmar. His oil paintings were quiet and academic in their style, but display occasional flashes of vi ...
* San Win


Notes


Bibliography

* * {{authority control 1967 deaths 1901 births Burmese artists People from Tanintharyi Region Burmese people of Chinese descent 20th-century Burmese painters Buddhist artists