San Win Painting, Burmese Artist

Oil on Board Painting of Figures in a Landscape by San Win

dimension without frame: 29.8cm x 24.2cm; dimensions with frame: 36cm x 30.5cm

This charming oil-on-board painting shows figures in Burmese dress by a stream with a mountainous background. It is by U San Win (1905-1981), a Burmese artist generally credited with being the first artist in Burma to paint in an impressionist style. It is a particularly early work by the artist, being dated 1930.

According to Ranard (2009, p. 154), landscapes by San Win can usually be identified because they include crowds of people, usually women in their pinkish and reddish

longyi. He also says that the artist completed very few large works.

San Win graduated from Rangoon University in 1931, after which he became a high school art teacher, and then an art lecturer at the Teacher’s Training College. From 1948-51, he studied art education at Goldsmiths, University of London, and later studied at Columbia University as a Fulbright/Smith-Mundt Scholar.

The painting is in an old, a probably original, simple gilded frame. It has been professionally cleaned recently, and is in excellent condition.

Ranard, A., Burmese Painting: A Linear and Lateral History, Silkworm Books, 2009.

private collection, London.