Saya Aye (painter)
Encyclopedia
Saya Aye was a major painter from Mandalay
of the Traditional School who took some of the earliest steps in Burma in modernizing and Westernizing his painting, both religious and secular. He had a major influence on the history of Burmese painting in the first decades of the 20th century.
where his artistic talents were noticed and thus he was given training in art from the age of 12 from a professional Traditional artist. He later became an apprentice
to the Mandalay painter Saya Chone (1866–1917) who had been a royal artist in Burma during the reign of King Thibaw, and learned Traditional painting by copying the works of Chone and Chone’s predecessors, the royal artists Saya Sar and Kyar Nyunt. However, while Saya Aye acquired an extensive background in Traditional painting, his style was partly Westernized from the outset because Saya Chone himself had been influenced by Western painting and had begun to introduce techniques such as linear and tonal perspective in his work, which were fairly new to Burma in the colonial period. Ultimately, Saya Aye stood on his own and opened up his own studio in Mandalay and began to make a reputation for himself with illustrations and art decoration for funereal ceremonies. It had been his dream to become a royal Traditional artist, but the dream was thwarted when King Thibaw and the Konbaung Dynasty
fell in 1885 to the British
.
Saya Aye’s first taste of fame arrived with the patronage of U Khandi
, a hermit monk of Mandalay who was keen to preserve the habits, customs and values of the Konbaung Dynasty
through the imagery of painting. Thus, much of the early period of Saya Aye's career was spent in documenting scenes of the old Burmese monarchy, and also painting many Buddhist works (scenes of the life stories of the historical Buddha
and Jataka Tales) for pagodas and religious buildings in Upper Burma
, especially on Mandalay Hill
. It is said that he acquired broad knowledge of Burmese traditions and religious rituals through these paintings, was particularly adept at depicting royal articles and ornaments, and became, along with another painter, Saya Mya Gyi, the most acclaimed artist in the old Traditional painting genre.
Until a Western vanguard in painting swept Burma, after the Burmese painter Ba Nyan
returned from training in London
in 1930, Buddhist-inspired works of art heavily made up much of Burma's corpus of painting. In the late 19th and early 20th century, these Buddhist works were generally done on metal sheets, quite often zinc, and hung high beneath the ceilings in monasteries and pagodas. In some places in Burma, Buddhist work by Saya Aye can be found at locations such as Eindawya Pagoda, but the works there have been hanging open to the elements for almost 100 years and they are heavily damaged, the scenes almost unreadable. Many of his other works have disappeared, been vandalized, or deteriorated beyond recognition of subject matter.
painting in Japan
does, without capturing a sense of a subject's true looks or personality. In Aye's two zinc court portraits, a great deal more personality is expressed, with a great brooding darkness and shadowing. In these works, he also exhibits mastery of sfumato
.
and oil portraits
done by Saya Aye were discovered in Burma, perhaps five or six pieces in all. These works were almost entirely secular in nature, generally portraits of high officials or wealthy persons, presumably commissioned, and they bear little resemblance to the work of Saya Chone. They were a dramatic break from the Traditional style, while also retaining certain aspects of Traditional painting in the appearance, particularly, of floral arabesque
. The works borrowed many techniques from Western painting—anatomical accuracy of proportion, depth perspective, shading
, foreshortening, and moody expressiveness of personality. Various Burmese art historians have argued whether the lines or coloring in the paintings are Burmese or Western, some critics adopting opposite views, attempting to analyze the works and disassemble them into their national (Burmese) or international elements. This is very difficult to do for the works are a smooth fusion of Burmese and Western painting and stand as an integral whole. In these works, Saya Aye, who had no real formal training in Western painting, took giant steps in creating an original expression in Burma.
and Phoo Gaung. Saw Maung (painter)
(1900–69) received extensive training in Traditional painting from his father and continued the family business of providing Traditional religious paintings for Burma.
Mandalay
Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of one million, and is the capital of Mandalay Region ....
of the Traditional School who took some of the earliest steps in Burma in modernizing and Westernizing his painting, both religious and secular. He had a major influence on the history of Burmese painting in the first decades of the 20th century.
Training and Early Career
Saya Aye received an early monastic educationMonastic education
Monastic EducationThe Buddhist monastic education system facilitate basic educational needs of the South East Asian Buddhist countries before the contemporary era. Nowadays, countries like Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos still practice Buddhist monastic education to fill the gap of the...
where his artistic talents were noticed and thus he was given training in art from the age of 12 from a professional Traditional artist. He later became an apprentice
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
to the Mandalay painter Saya Chone (1866–1917) who had been a royal artist in Burma during the reign of King Thibaw, and learned Traditional painting by copying the works of Chone and Chone’s predecessors, the royal artists Saya Sar and Kyar Nyunt. However, while Saya Aye acquired an extensive background in Traditional painting, his style was partly Westernized from the outset because Saya Chone himself had been influenced by Western painting and had begun to introduce techniques such as linear and tonal perspective in his work, which were fairly new to Burma in the colonial period. Ultimately, Saya Aye stood on his own and opened up his own studio in Mandalay and began to make a reputation for himself with illustrations and art decoration for funereal ceremonies. It had been his dream to become a royal Traditional artist, but the dream was thwarted when King Thibaw and the Konbaung Dynasty
Konbaung dynasty
The Konbaung Dynasty was the last dynasty that ruled Burma from 1752 to 1885. The dynasty created the second largest empire in Burmese history, and continued the administrative reforms begun by the Toungoo dynasty, laying the foundations of modern state of Burma...
fell in 1885 to the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Saya Aye’s first taste of fame arrived with the patronage of U Khandi
U Khandi
U Khandi was a Burmese hermit known for his works on Buddhist pagodas and other religious buildings in Myanmar. U Khandi maintained the Mandalay Hill and organized many religious activities for 40 years. He was born Maung Po Maung in Ywathaya village, Yamethin District in 1868...
, a hermit monk of Mandalay who was keen to preserve the habits, customs and values of the Konbaung Dynasty
Konbaung dynasty
The Konbaung Dynasty was the last dynasty that ruled Burma from 1752 to 1885. The dynasty created the second largest empire in Burmese history, and continued the administrative reforms begun by the Toungoo dynasty, laying the foundations of modern state of Burma...
through the imagery of painting. Thus, much of the early period of Saya Aye's career was spent in documenting scenes of the old Burmese monarchy, and also painting many Buddhist works (scenes of the life stories of the historical Buddha
Buddha
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
and Jataka Tales) for pagodas and religious buildings in Upper Burma
Upper Burma
Upper Burma refers to a geographic region of Burma , traditionally encompassing Mandalay and its periphery , or more broadly speaking, Kachin and Shan States....
, especially on Mandalay Hill
Mandalay Hill
Mandalay Hill is a 240 metre hill that is located to the northeast of the city centre of Mandalay in Burma. The city took its name from the hill. Mandalay Hill is known for its abundance of pagodas and monasteries, and has been a major pilgrimage site for Burmese Buddhists for nearly two centuries...
. It is said that he acquired broad knowledge of Burmese traditions and religious rituals through these paintings, was particularly adept at depicting royal articles and ornaments, and became, along with another painter, Saya Mya Gyi, the most acclaimed artist in the old Traditional painting genre.
Until a Western vanguard in painting swept Burma, after the Burmese painter 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....
returned from training 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...
in 1930, Buddhist-inspired works of art heavily made up much of Burma's corpus of painting. In the late 19th and early 20th century, these Buddhist works were generally done on metal sheets, quite often zinc, and hung high beneath the ceilings in monasteries and pagodas. In some places in Burma, Buddhist work by Saya Aye can be found at locations such as Eindawya Pagoda, but the works there have been hanging open to the elements for almost 100 years and they are heavily damaged, the scenes almost unreadable. Many of his other works have disappeared, been vandalized, or deteriorated beyond recognition of subject matter.
Style
At least two of Saya Aye's court scenes of the Burmese monarchy (on zinc plates, dated 1918) have survived in good shape and both of them are startling. While Aye's teacher, Saya Chone, had begun to master Western techniques, except in the case of an existing photograph of one painting, Chone did not exhibit the talent or perhaps the desire to depict human features realistically. In general, the portrait figures in Chone's paintings lack individuation, one face looking much like another, in much the same way that ukiyo-eUkiyo-e
' is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints and paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries, featuring motifs of landscapes, tales from history, the theatre, and pleasure quarters...
painting in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
does, without capturing a sense of a subject's true looks or personality. In Aye's two zinc court portraits, a great deal more personality is expressed, with a great brooding darkness and shadowing. In these works, he also exhibits mastery of sfumato
Sfumato
Sfumato is one of the four canonical painting modes of the Renaissance .The most prominent practitioner of sfumato was Leonardo da Vinci, and his famous painting of the Mona Lisa exhibits the technique. Leonardo da Vinci described sfumato as "without lines or borders, in the manner of smoke or...
.
Western painting
It is not precisely known where Aye picked up his more advanced skills in Western-style painting but they clearly did not come from Saya Chone. Aye had no known formal instruction in Western arts. It is said, however, that Aye studied Western painting from illustrations in foreign books, and this is probably true as acquiring such books in the colonial period would not have been difficult. The early Burmese painter Maung Maung Gyi (1890–1942), who traveled to London on his own in about 1906 and managed some education in Western painting there, is also said to have given Saya Aye instruction in Western painting after his return to Burma in 1908 or 1909. Maung Maung Gyi allegedly gave this instruction to Aye in exchange for instruction from Aye in Traditional painting, which was then still held in high regard.Secular portrait works
In the 1990s, a number of surprising gouacheGouache
Gouache[p], also spelled guache, the name of which derives from the Italian guazzo, water paint, splash or bodycolor is a type of paint consisting of pigment suspended in water. A binding agent, usually gum arabic, is also present, just as in watercolor...
and oil portraits
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
done by Saya Aye were discovered in Burma, perhaps five or six pieces in all. These works were almost entirely secular in nature, generally portraits of high officials or wealthy persons, presumably commissioned, and they bear little resemblance to the work of Saya Chone. They were a dramatic break from the Traditional style, while also retaining certain aspects of Traditional painting in the appearance, particularly, of floral arabesque
Arabesque
The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements...
. The works borrowed many techniques from Western painting—anatomical accuracy of proportion, depth perspective, shading
Shading
Shading refers to depicting depth perception in 3D models or illustrations by varying levels of darkness.-Drawing:Shading is a process used in drawing for depicting levels of darkness on paper by applying media more densely or with a darker shade for darker areas, and less densely or with a lighter...
, foreshortening, and moody expressiveness of personality. Various Burmese art historians have argued whether the lines or coloring in the paintings are Burmese or Western, some critics adopting opposite views, attempting to analyze the works and disassemble them into their national (Burmese) or international elements. This is very difficult to do for the works are a smooth fusion of Burmese and Western painting and stand as an integral whole. In these works, Saya Aye, who had no real formal training in Western painting, took giant steps in creating an original expression in Burma.
Death and legacy
Saya Aye was a financially successful painter. When he was in his 50s, he suffered a stroke and became paralyzed and could no longer paint. He left his painting business to his two sons Saw Maung (painter)Saw Maung (painter)
Saw Maung was a Burmese artist. He was the son of the artist Saya Aye , who in turn was an apprentice of Saya Chone , a young Royal Artist under King Thibaw...
and Phoo Gaung. Saw Maung (painter)
Saw Maung (painter)
Saw Maung was a Burmese artist. He was the son of the artist Saya Aye , who in turn was an apprentice of Saya Chone , a young Royal Artist under King Thibaw...
(1900–69) received extensive training in Traditional painting from his father and continued the family business of providing Traditional religious paintings for Burma.