10 Facts About Ba Nyan

Ba Nyan was the fourth of six children, born in Pantanaw in 1897.

Ba Nyan displayed his talent for painting at an early age, and for four years studied the skills of applying color and painting traditional motifs under Po Maung.

Ba Nyan was noticed by the Maubin district officer who persuaded the government to support him in studying at the Norman School in Mawlamyaing under Saya Ba Lwin.

Ba Nyan was then appointed assistant drawing master at the Yangon High School.

Ba Nyan returned in 1925 full of enthusiasm about western oil painting techniques, and began depicting the Burmese countryside in the style of conservative British landscape artists.

Ba Nyan met King George V in person, after he had saved one of the king's relatives from drowning.

In 1944, during the Japanese occupation, Ba Nyan led a group of artists that opened an Institute of Art, becoming the principal of the academy with Ba Kyi and San Win as instructors.

Ba Nyan had a significant influence on the manner in which teaching was handed down in Burma for he retained the master-apprentice form of instruction, which had always been a feature of the older more Traditional schools of painting in Burma.

Ba Nyan taught six pupils full-time who lived with him in his home: Aye Maung, Thein Han, Thein Tan, Myat Kyaw, Ba Kyi, and Aung Khin, in that order, although Myat Kyaw's period of study with Ba Nyan was short.

Ba Nyan died on 12 October 1945 in Ga Doe Village, shortly after the end of World War II.