Burmese Water Color Paintings
These items are from the estates of Neil Soward’s parents and sister. His parents were missionaries to Burma 1921 to 1966 (with breaks). His sister was born there and visited a number of times so their Burma items were collected 1921 to 2010.
Back in the nineteen nineties very few tourists visited Burma–at one time less than 30,000 per year! So very few paintings were done and sold.
As he remembered it, we scoured Rangoon looking for an art gallery and only found one because there were so few tourists. Most Burmese at that time were struggling to get enough to eat and could not afford paintings. Most had to be satisfied with posters.
Check out what it costs now to frame, mat and glass a painting and you will see these are a good buy. Some day the Burmese will be able to afford to buy their paintings of the past and they will increase in value because there are so few of them.
Perhaps someday Art Museums which claim they have art from all over the world, will add Burma to their display. They will find few paintings from before 2000 and will probably give a very good tax write off for Burmese art. Art produced before 2000 was basically all scenic art because that is what tourist bought. Portraits were harder to paint so there were very few portraits from before 2000. Sandra Win was one of the main portrait painters. She has been called the Norman Rockwell of Burma because of her photographic portraits.
If you’re interested in an item, please email president@friendsofburma.org and include the item number, description, or link. Please note that shipping and handling costs are not included in the listed price.
Water color by Burmese artist U Ba San, Old Burmese boat, house, Pride of India tree (with red flowers), and Pagoda.
$50
Fine water color. Burma teak frame. Burmese mat. Overall dimensions 15 1/4 by 22 inches. Water color 9 1/2 by 13 inches. Regular glass. Water color with mat. My parents brought this painting back in 1932 so it was painted before that time. During World War II much of most cities were destroyed so pre WWII paintings are not common. Back then the typical boat was padded with an oar making figure 8 pattern. Now most have motors.
Item number: 49
