🔥 RARE Antique Important Old Burmese Asian Modern Painting, M.T. Hla 1910s

Description: This is a stunning and masterful RARE Antique Important Old Burmese Asian Modern Painting, watercolor on paper, by pioneering and esteemed early 20th century Burmese artist, M.T. Hla, or "Maung Tun Hla" (1874 - 1946.) This work depicts the Mandalay Palace and moat, with calm waters, speckled with lily pads, stoic ancient Buddhist architecture, and a lone figure carrying a basin on their head. Signed: M.T. Hla" in the lower right corner. This work is undated, but likely dates to the 1910's - 1920's. Hla is regarded as one of the first and most important Burmese artists to paint in the Western style and was one of the first artists in the country to paint ordinary people, and ethnic minorities. Hla tragically lost his wife and two children during the Japanese invasion of Burma in World War II and died grief stricken and impoverished in 1946. This historic work is approximately 12 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches (including frame.) Actual visible artwork is approximately 7 1/4 x 9 3/4 inches. Good condition for age, with a vertical area of discoloration or fading at the upper edge, and light scuffing and edge wear to the gilded frame (please see photos.) Hla's work has dramatically increased in value in recent times, with his recent historical rediscovery by Western art scholars, and his paintings seldom turn up for sale on the market. It has been said that none of his pieces survive in Myanmar (formerly Burma) today. His paintings are in many prestigious collections in both Asia and the United Kingdom. Priced to sell. Acquired in Pasadena, California. If you like what you see, I encourage you to make an Offer. Please check out my other listings for more wonderful and unique artworks! About the Artist: Mg Tun Hla Born: 1874Died: 1946Known for: PaintingName variants: M T Hla Biography from Bonhams Hong KongM T Hla was one of the first and most important Burmese artists who painted in Western watercolour style. This influence was introduced to Myanmar in the first decade of the 20th century and since watercolour painting has earned a prominent place within the country. While travelling through Burma, the Irishman Gerald Kelly (1879-1972) was known to have taught M T Hla watercolour painting techniques. Much of M T Hla's works also display influence from Robert Talbot Kelly (1861-1934), whose paintings were reproduced in two books [Burma Painted and Described (1905) and Burma (1909)] that were widely available in Burma at the time. Breaking the established traditions of painting Buddhist imagery or portraits of royalty and aristocrats, M T Hla was also a pioneer in painting ordinary people, particularly ethnic minorities living in isolation. His works are executed through close and personal observation of the diverse socio-cultural characteristics of his countrymen.Biography from Waddington'sMg Tun Hla was one of the first and most important Burmese artists who painted watercolours in the Western manner. This influence was introduced to Myanmar in the first decade of the 20th century, and since then watercolour painting has earned a prominent place within the country's artistic narrative. U M.T. Hla (Burma, 1874-1946) Along with Ba Ohn, U M.T. Hla (U is the Burmese approximation for Mr) is the earliest pioneer of Western-style painting in Burma. Both received personal instruction in Western painting techniques. M.T. Hla also received traditional instruction and undertook traditional painting decoration for the banners and other decorations associated with Burmese Buddhist celebrations and ceremonies.Ranard (2009, p. 57) comments in respect of M.T. Hla, that ‘more than two dozen of his paintings have surfaced, most of them watercolour…’ It is likely that most of the artist’s works were acquired by colonial administrators and their families and brought back to England and Scotland in the early twentieth century. It would appear that very few of the artist’s works have survived in Asia. Several paintings by M.T. Hla are found in the collection of the National Museum, Myanmar, however.Ranard observes that twelve of the artist’s paintings survive in the collection of Denison University (Ohio). (Ranard reproduces five M.T. Hla paintings in his book.)M.T. Hla is historically important in the development of modern Burmese painting. His work represents a break with traditional styles of painting and heralds the evolution of a vibrant and dynamic painting scene in Burma which lasts to this day.ReferencesKhin Muang Nuynt et al, Myanmar Painting: From Worship to Self-Imaging, EvoHeritage, 2006; and Ranard, A., Burmese Painting: A Linear and Lateral History, Silkworm Books, 2009. INTRODUCTION By Jørn Middelborg The country formerly known as Burma is now called Myanmar. However, as this publication mostly covers the period of the early 20th Century, the name Burma has been applied. After the fall of the last Burmese King in 1885, the country experienced a takeover by the British Colonial Administration. A Japanese occupation followed during the Second World War, until it finally regained its independence in 1948. This publication aims at studying an important part of the country’s cultural history, namely watercolour paintings on paper. It gives an overview of eighty-six paintings and put them in a historical context. However, it will not go into detail and analyze each painting as this will require much more time and in-depth studies. From the time of the fall of the last king, King Thibaw, Burma saw several artists painting in a “palace style” which is stylistically rigid and most often features imagery of the king’s family or high ranking officials who could afford to commissioned paintings. Artists from this period include Saya Chone, Saya Aya and others. Saya means Teacher and is an honorific. Other Burmese honorifics include Sayagyi which means Master, U which corresponds to Mr, Daw to Mrs, Ko to Brother, and Maung to Young Brother. Sometimes U is used in front of the name, such as for U Ba Nyan, and sometimes it is omitted and only Ba Nyan is written. It has no implication for the meaning. Much of the historical background in this publication is taken from the book Burmese Painting by Andrew Ranard (2009) which is a cornerstone publication on the history of Burmese paintings. The earliest Burmese artists who painted in a Western style were M T Hla and U Ba Ohn (ca 1877- 1924), and they received their training inside Burma. The first Burmese painter who traveled to Europe to study Western painting style was U Ba Nyan who received a scholarship to attend the Royal College of Art in London in 1921, and later returned to Burma in 1925. A second stint in London happened in 1928-30. Few other artists had the opportunity to travel to Britain, but could receive some training by foreign artists who came to visit Burma. One such artist was Robert Talbot Kelly (1861-1934) who was of Irish/Scottish background and travelled to Burma around 1903, which he wrote about and illustrated in two books published by A & C Black: Burma Painted and Described (1905) and Burma (1909). The former contains reproductions of seventy-three of Kelly's paintings and the latter contains twelve reproductions. Kelly's two books were widely available in Burma and so were postcard reproductions of his paintings. Hence, the early Burmese painters had a chance to observe and study his works through reproductions. It is also believed that he met M T Hla. Gerald Kelly (1879-1972) was Irish and not from the same Kelly family as above. He arrived in Burma in 1908 on the advice of his close friend Sommerset Maugham and stayed for one year. He has been the subject of the biography: For Love of Painting (1975) written by Derek Hudson. He was intimate with most of the major figures of British painting in the first half of the 20 th century and is known to have taught watercolour painting to M T Hla (Ranard, 2009). The Burmese Artists and Handicraftsmen’s Association (BAHA) was formed in 1930 after U Ba Nyan’s return from Britain. An important aim was to bring together the Rangoon School and the Mandalay School of painting. The older painter M T Hla was elected chairman. U Ba Nyan was only thirty-three years old but became vice-chairman due to his international experience and thus high status. The establishment of BAHA put Ba Nyan in contact with senior old “masters” such as M T Hla and Saya Myit. Another important result was that BAHA began to sponsor exhibitions, which had hardly existed prior to that time. BAHA lasted only until 1936 while the Burma Art Club (see under Rangoon School below) survived until the Japanese invasion in 1941 (Ranard, 2009). By March of 1945 when the country began to revolt against the Japanese rule, the fighting grew so fierce that the populace of the cities fled to remote villages. By the time Burma regained its independence in 1948, traditional Burmese art had almost disappeared. In the years after, the Rangoon University Fine Arts Association was established in 1952 as well as the State School of Fine Arts. Throughout the following decades, this Association was to give birth to many great artists, as did other affiliate art associations that were founded when more universities were set up in other towns. (Thanegi, 2006). Painting education in Burma has traditionally followed the pattern that a student apprenticed with his master or mentor. Even after the establishment of the State School of Fine Arts in 1952, it was important who your “master” was since this would give you credibility and prestige. All the painters mentioned in the literature were male. Old Burmese watercolours are rarely dated. The first Burmese artist to paint Western style watercolours was M T Hla, and his early works likely stem from the 1920s, and continue into the 1930s - until World War II probably halted most painting activities.M T Hla or U Tun Hla (1874-1946) M T Hla is the most important pioneer of Western style watercolour painting in Burma. In his name M T Hla the letter M stands for Maung which is an honorific, meaning a younger man. U Tun Hla is the proper way of addressing him as an older man. Since he signed his paintings as M T Hla, this will be the way of writing his name in this publication. He first studied under Sayadaw (senior monk) U Thone Da Ya of Ma Ngae Ah Lae village (Htun, 2006). In the beginning, he made his living from being a contributor to national festivals and illustrating funerals of monks. M T Hla, together with Ba Ohn, who both received personal instruction in Western painting from the foreign artists residing in Burma, are the earliest pioneers of Western-style painting, and their works began to appear after 1910 or perhaps a little earlier. They were influential, and served as teachers for at least a dozen painters ten to twenty years younger than them (Ranard, 2009). In the last part of the 19th Century, M T Hla might have mingled with and learned from the British artists J.M.W. Tarna, Thomas Grafton, and J.S. Cothman, according to Htun (2006). And according to the art scholar Min Naing, M T Hla received training from Gerald Kelly while Kelly was in Burma (Wikipedia). Much of M T Hla’s work is academically and professionally inclined, close to Talbot Kelly’s in composition, according to Ranard (2009). Painting in Burma had gone from works that were Buddhist in character, which included monarchical and state matters, to historical portraits of royal and rich families. Breaking this tradition, M T Hla became the first Burmese artist to paint ordinary people, including ethnic minorities, no less. These were groups who mostly lived isolated in valleys and were almost “foreign” to the mainstream Burmese (or Burman, as the ethnic majority group is called). Thus, M T Hla became the first Burmese painter to view and paint his countrymen through observing social, psychological and anthropological traits. After U Ba Nyan’s return from Britain in 1930, M T Hla became his painting companion and learned opaque watercolour wash-style from him, in particular opaque white, and his works underwent further developments (Ranard, 2009). M T Hla is known almost exclusively for his watercolour paintings although a few oil paintings exist. The fifty watercolours below by M T Hla are not dated, though based on the information gathered above, his earliest paintings are likely from the 1910s, the majority of works stem from the 1920s and some works extending into the 1930s. It is likely that the WWII and the Japanese occupation more or less put an end to his painting activities. The works have been grouped according to their subject matter; paintings from Bagan; paintings from Mandalay; the Shwedagon Pagoda; monks; ethnic minority people; urban people; and village river scenes. The Burmese artist U.M.T. Hla (U is the Burmese approximation for Mr), was a watercolour and oil painter who painted in the Western style. M.T. Hla was the signature he used for signing his paintings, which was apparently derived from the initials in the name Maung Tun Hla. In the early 1900s, Hla encountered the British artist Sir Gerald Kelly (1879–1972) who travelled to Burma to paint and who later established his reputation in England largely through his landscapes of Burma and portraits of Burmese dancers and ladies. Gerald Kelly subsequently became a painter of note in Britain, becoming Official Portrait Artist to the King and Queen during World War II and becoming President of the Royal Academy of Art from the 1949 to 1954. Hla received traditional instruction in Western painting techniques and undertook commissions to paint banners and other decorations associated with Burmese Buddhist celebrations and ceremonies. It is likely that most of the artist's works were acquired by colonial administrators and their families and brought back to England and Scotland in the early twentieth century. It would appear that very few of the artist's works have survived in Asia. Several paintings by M.T. Hla are found in the collection of the National Museum, Myanmar. Ranard observes that twelve of the artist's paintings survive in the collection of Denison University (Ohio). (Ranard reproduces five M.T. Hla paintings in his book.) M.T. Hla is historically important in the development of modern Burmese painting. His work represents a break with traditional styles of painting and heralds the evolution of a vibrant and dynamic painting scene in Burma which lasts to this day.ReferencesKhin Muang Nuynt et al, Myanmar Painting From Worship to Self-Imaging, EvoHeritage, 2006. Ranard, A., Burmese Painting A Linear and Lateral History, Silkworm Books, 2009. Watercolours by Maung Htun Hla Maung Htun Hla commonly signed his works, ‘M. T. Hla’. He painted a range of portraits and landscapes, in both oils and watercolours, some of which are cared for by the South Asia Collection. It is the watercolours that we will focus on here. Hla’s portraits mostly contain single figures. He made a number of paintings of national types; figures in local costume, usually painted in a standing position. The two portraits here, are tribal hill costume studies. The frame of A Girl from Northern Burma was originally inscribed ‘Kachin girl from N. Burma,’ suggesting that she may have resided in Burma’s most northerly state, bordered by China, Tibet and India. The Kachin group is subdivided into six tribes. The second portrait likely depicts a girl from the Maru subgroup of the Kachins, who are mostly found in the China-Burma borderlands. These images are a useful source of traditional costumes, as Hla painted in great detail. Hla’s life is a fascinating tale of an artist working at the turn of the nineteenth century, through to the middle of the twentieth century (1879-1946). Hla was born in Rangoon and engaged in a monastic education, of which a significant part was artistic, particularly in relation to Buddhist styles of painting.His most substantial period of art production and economic sustainability, came when he began to produce commissions for the Smart and Mookerdum store in Rangoon. Here, he typically produced landscape watercolours and ethnic portraits to sell to the international community. It is likely that these paintings originate from that period. There are a number of influences on Hla’s painting style: his monastic education and traditional ideas about art, the tastes of customers at the Smart and Mukerdum shop (a largely western clientele), and the work of European artists, such as Sir Gerald Kelly, who travelled through Burma, and contemporary photography. He was also influenced by his friendships with important figures in Burma during that period. It is the combination of these factors (Hla’s personal journal and the influences he encountered along the way) alongside Hla’s artistic ability, and the Burma he portrayed (which is long in the past) that make his works so interesting.

Price: 3500 USD

Location: Orange, California

End Time: 2024-07-25T19:57:56.000Z

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