[Translated Text] Txt0058

Maung Yan Way, “New Art: Graphic Art”, Paybulwa (August 1985), 10A-12A.

10A The simplest way to present graphic art is as a skill placing lines, dots and marks on a thin sheet of flat surface and duplicating them to figure an image.

In graphic art, lithography and woodcut techniques as well as several other methods of printing are used.

As experimental Burmese literature developed, journals, magazines and so on also evolved over time. As magazines and journals developed, so did the printing press.

12A A number of graphic or magazine artists [painters] have emerged today due to the many opportunities to create and to exhibit in the large number of magazines and journals in mass.1 The graphic artist to be presented this month in this new art section is artist U Aung Soe (Bagyi Aung Soe) who has continuously applied the skills of graphic art and design to create works of art over the years.

U Aung Soe first entered the magazine scene in 1947 (Taya magazine) and is still drawing and painting for magazines big and small.

Among the isms adapted to the creation of graphic art such as Realism [English], Surrealism [English] and Abstract Art [English], U Aung Soe mostly draws on surrealism and abstract art [Burmese: အႏွစ္ခ်ဳပ္၀ါဒ]. He sometimes applies Symbolism [English] as well.

He is exceptional at creating abstract works usually combining the oriental spirit, religion and traditions which he learnt from Śāntiniketan, India (1951).

As he was the first to adopt and to create modern [contemporary] painting [Burmese: ေခတ္ေပၚပန္းခ်ီ], the illustration titled A Man, A Violin, A Monkey created in the technique of modern [contemporary] painting to appear in print for the first time is here presented

1

Characteristic of usage in the modern period, the Burmese word meaning “painting” is often used to stand for “art”, and likewise “painter” for “artist”. In this article, the original meaning of “painting” and “painter” is favoured. When translated as “art” and “artist”, “[painting]” and “[painter]” in square brackets follows.

Maung Yan Way, “Graphic Art”, Paybulwa (August 1985), 10A-12A. Translated by Pann Hmone Wai; edited by Yin Ker.

1

AungSoeillustrations.org

among his artworks. (A graphic artwork titled Insidious by artist Hla Soe was also printed along with that illustration in Shumawa magazine.)

It was the illustration for author Kyi Aye’s “Viewpoint” in the February issue of Shumawa magazine (volume 6, number 9).2 Its publication led to backlash in the literary and art circles.

Again in Shumawa magazine, an article titled “Psychological Painting and Shumawa” [Burmese: စိတၱေဗဒပန္​္းခ်ီနွင့္ရွုမဝ] by author Hla Pa was published.3 U Aung Soe said that it caused much disconcertion, to the point that some wrongly branded it as psychopathic painting [Burmese: စိတၱဇပန္​္းခ်ီ] and rock-and-roll [aka “a-madman-shitting”] painting [Burmese: အရူးေခ်းပန္း ပန္းခ်ီ].

Nevertheless, the interpretation of modern [contemporary] painting and art [Burmese: အႏုပညာ] by the master U Aung Soe, who has demonstrated an unwavering dedication to modern [contemporary] painting for more than thirty years, is presented as follows.

“On my experience of modern [contemporary] painting, I was once approached by a young person who wanted to learn painting. To gauge his observation skills, I asked him about the colour of an umbrella.

I was asked the same when studying painting in my youth. The kid answered, ‘It’s in the colours of the rainbow, Sayagyi”.

Then I said, “Are you sure? Answer specifically.” By the time I asked him if the umbrella is black, he replied, ‘It is correct that the umbrella is black too.’ ’But you might not have seen the umbrellas used today. They are not only black but colourful too in red, blue and yellow.’ Then I revealed that modern [contemporary] painting was precisely that.”

Some works by Saya U Aung Soe (Bagyi Aung Soe) are also presented for the readers’ viewing.

Translated by Pann Hmone Wai Edited by Yin Ker

2

Kyi Aye (1929–2016) is a renowned writer. Many of her publications were illustrated by Bagyi Aung Soe. 3 See Hla Pa. “Psychological Painting and Shumawa,” Shumawa, February 1953, 30–31.

Maung Yan Way, “Graphic Art”, Paybulwa (August 1985), 10A-12A. Translated by Pann Hmone Wai; edited by Yin Ker.

2

AungSoeillustrations.org