Kyaw Hlaing
Encyclopedia
Bogalay Kyaw Hlaing was a Burmese artist. Due to his mastery of the technique of painting clouds, he was sometimes also called "Cloudy Kyaw Hlaing".
, Aye Maung and Thein Han (painter)
, he became a student under the master Ba Nyan
, who had learned European oil painting techniques in London
. After the Second World War he entered a national painting competition, winning prizes in the still life, figure and landscape categories, and the overall gold prize. He found work as an art instructor in Bogalay, later moving to Yangon
where he taught in high schools for many years.
Kyaw Hlaing's watercolor works, which earned him the nickname "Cloudy", were rendered with skies full of clouds executed in many tones of white, often with portions of the clouds left unpainted to create a searing white given off by the background watercolor paper. Many of his paintings are exhibited today in the New Treasure Art Gallery.
with his withered legs crossed and his upper body hidden by a newspaper he was reading. It is presently in the collection of the Singapore Art Museum
.
He was a calm and taciturn person with a taste for tea and cigars, always helpful to his fellow artists. He lived with his wife in a poor quarter of Yangon. He painted until his last days. He died at the age of 82 on 13 April 1996.
Early Life
Kyaw Hlaing was born on 28 September 1914 in Bogalay, (in the present day Ayeyarwady Region), son of wealthy parents with an interest in art. He studied art at Aid National Middle School. At the age of 18, along with Ba KyiBa Kyi
Ba Kyi, FRSA was a well-known and prolific Burmese artist. He was initially trained in western painting, but in the post-WWII independence period, he initiated a revivial of Traditional painting, borrowing from the Western training he had received as well as his own cultural heritage of painting...
, Aye Maung and Thein Han (painter)
Thein Han (painter)
Thein Han was a major Yangon painter of the post-World War II era who produced a number of memorable works and who had an abiding influence on the evolution of the more conservative painting styles in Burma in the decades that followed...
, he became a student under the master Ba Nyan
Ba Nyan
Ba Nyan 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 virtuosity in bold brushstrokes and skillful handling of the medium....
, who had learned European oil painting techniques in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. After the Second World War he entered a national painting competition, winning prizes in the still life, figure and landscape categories, and the overall gold prize. He found work as an art instructor in Bogalay, later moving to Yangon
Yangon
Yangon is a former capital of Burma and the capital of Yangon Region . Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most important commercial...
where he taught in high schools for many years.
His Work
Kyaw Hlaing belonged to the second generation of Burmese painters who studied under Ba Nyan in the 1930s. After Myanmar gained independence in 1948, he continued to practice the European painting techniques he had learned during the colonial period. Kyaw Hlaing exhibited at many art shows in the 1960s, and his paintings were collected by many art lovers. The majority of his work was in watercolor, this ouevre of work counting in the many hundreds. His oil work was less prolific, and the number of paintings is not known precisely, but nearly a score of these works have emerged in the hands of Yangon art dealers in recent years. Kyaw Hlaing quoted 80 oil paintings as an estimate of the number of oil works he had done in his lifetime.Kyaw Hlaing's watercolor works, which earned him the nickname "Cloudy", were rendered with skies full of clouds executed in many tones of white, often with portions of the clouds left unpainted to create a searing white given off by the background watercolor paper. Many of his paintings are exhibited today in the New Treasure Art Gallery.
His Later Years
After retiring, he was appointed an instructor at the Yangon Fine Arts school, teaching third-year students. His pupils included Min Wae Aung, Zaw Zaw Aung, Hla Tun, Zaw Win Pe and Kyaw Shein. Kyaw Hlaing was a handsome man with a wiry, towering frame and two of his students, Min Wae Aung and Zaw Zaw Aung, painted portraits of him. One of these works by Zaw Zaw Aung, an ironic oil painting entitled Portrait of U Kyaw Hlaing: Visit Myanmar Year 1996 (1995), was done when Kyaw Hlaing had passed the age of 80. It captured only the lower part of his body in a longyiLongyi
A longyi is a sheet of cloth widely worn in Burma. It is approximately 2 m long and 80 cm wide. The cloth is often sewn into a cylindrical shape. It is worn around the waist, running to the feet. It is held in place by folding fabric over, without a knot. It is also sometimes folded up to...
with his withered legs crossed and his upper body hidden by a newspaper he was reading. It is presently in the collection of the Singapore Art Museum
Singapore Art Museum
The Singapore Art Museum contains the national art collection of Singapore. It has a collection of 7,750 pieces of Singaporean and Southeast Asian modern and contemporary art, and has an expanding collection of new Asian and international contemporary art.- History :Officially opened in 1996, it...
.
He was a calm and taciturn person with a taste for tea and cigars, always helpful to his fellow artists. He lived with his wife in a poor quarter of Yangon. He painted until his last days. He died at the age of 82 on 13 April 1996.