Portrait of an artist
Description: Portrait of an artist
Portrait of an artist
U BA KYI
the grand old man of Myanmar Painting
Text & Photos by Masaki Watanabe
On two of the walls up high in the departure lounge at Yangon International Airport is a mural entitled "Flights." It depicts heavenly flying horses and angels of Myanmar lore soaring high into a splendiferous golden sky over dark trees and cliffs in some mythical land. The theme is clearly Myanmar, and the bold and vivid strokes that breathe life into the creatures are to me reminiscent of the Renaissance masters. Truly original are its lifelike yet unaffected treatment of forms and the hues — the exhilarating yellows and cobalt blues, the dusty golds and sombre dark greens. Neither Eastern nor Western, it was, I supposed, quintessentially Myanmar. Noticing this masterpiece during a recent visit to Yangon, I asked around and learned that it had been painted back in 1956 by none other than U Ba Kyi, the widely U Ba Kyi acknowledged, if unofficial, "dean" of contemporary Myanmar painters. By a stroke of good luck, I was able to meet one of the master's grand nephews, who kindly took me to see the venerable artist at his home in a quiet, tree-shaded quarter of Yangon a few days later. I found a man at peace with himself, Aged 83 today, U Ba Kyi cannot work as prolifically as before partly because of his weakening eyesight. He still does some painting at home, and teaches art students, who are eager to pick up his skills and determined to continue his distinct school of Myanmar artform. "The students have many things to learn but they're coming along," says U Ba Kyi who moves slowly in his advanced age but still stands ramrod straight. Among many distinctions, he was the first Myanmar painter to make an impact on the Paris art scene after World War II, when he studied in the early 1950s at the Ecole des Beaux Arts where he was conferred a degree. Apart from the mural at the terminal and many paintings, one ofU Ba Kyi's best known recent works is a series of illustrations for a book on the many episodes in the Life of Lord Buddha. So simple that even children can enjoy them, the illustrations fairly explode with movement and colours in an unabashed affirmation of the life of religious devotion and its joys. Men and women, boys and girls and angels, dancing, singing and playing in many poses of celebration.
WONDERS — ESSENCE OF MYANMAR SPIRIT
After recollections of life in Paris in the early 50s — "Some dealers wanted to commission paintings right away, but I couldn't do them as 1 was on a student visa" — the talk turned to the Myanmar arts and letters scene today. "I am old now so I can only try to pass on what I can to my students." He said he wanted to see in the arts what one might call the essential ethos of the Myanmar people — the spirit of kindness and compassion toward fellow man and all living things. "Myanmar is the Land of One Hundred Wonders," he said, trying to capture this ethos. "I am a painter and not a man of words, so you writers must record these things." U Ba Kyi then gave one example of such "wonders," the true story of a "talking crow" that made history at the Yangon Zoo many years ago, as reported in newspapers at the time. One day a man brought to the Zoo his young son who came with a crow. The/bird became famous, as whenever a visitor would give the boy alms, it would thank the donor using traditional Buddhist words:"ther-du, ther-du, ther-du." The boy was collecting alms for his novitiation into monkhood, something all Myanmar parents regardless of social status wished for their sons. The "Talking Crow of Rangoon Zoo" was quite a novelty until one day, the boy had enough money for the novitiation ceremony. Very soon thereafter, the crow died, as if its mission to make sure the boy could become a novice was done. It was later learned that the boy's novitiation had been the fervent but, alas, unfulfilled wish of his mother who had died, having spoken of her "one regret" upon her deathbed. Soon thereafter, so the story goes, the grief-stricken husband and son noticed one of the crows drinking water at a nearby watering hole. The bird looked at the father and son as if it recognised them, walked toward them and perched itself on the boy's shoulder and called his name. Devout Myanmars believe that the mother's soul was reincarnated in the crow. The story has become one of the many "wonders" of this land, that are being passed down by word of mouth. In the context of today's fast, modem urban lifestyle, the story can be dismissed as "just another folk tale." but when one has spent even a short period among the people of Buddhist Myanmar, who almost casually speak of, say, attraction between two worldly individuals in "must-have-known-each- other-in-past-lives" terms, the story takes on deeper meaning. Having given me this glimpse into the Myanmar soul, the old master smiled and reiterated, "I'm not a writer. Those who can write, should record these stories for posterity." The sense of urgency he must have felt for everyone capable to help preserve and build on Myanmar's cultural heritage in the fine arts, folklore, music and so on was, perhaps, not readily apparent to me when I met him. But as I recall U Ba Kyi's quiet words that sultry afternoon in Yangon, I am now sure that this sense of urgency was what he was trying to convey.
Book Title - PYINSA-RUPA Published By - Myanmar Airways International Inflight Magazine April-June 1995 Vol.2, No2