Lot 256
  • 256

U NGWE GAING | Still Life with Fish

Estimate
260,000 - 350,000 HKD
bidding is closed

Description

  • U Ngwe Gaing
  • Still Life with Fish
  • Signed
  • Oil on canvas
  • 90.5 by 67 cm; 35 1/2  by 26 1/2  in. 
  • Executed circa 1960

Provenance

Acquired directly from the artist in the 1960s
Thence by descent to the present owners
Private Collection, U.K.

Condition

This work is in good overall condition as viewed. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals a repair at the bottom left corner, and some very minor areas of restoration primarily along bottom edge, and a very small spot of retouching at upper left quadrant, and a few minor spots of retouching at the fishes. Framed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

U Ngwe Gaing was one of Burma’s most preeminent artists in the post-WW2 period, pioneering a distinctive Rangoon school of realist artistic expression throughout his career and establishing himself as one of the country’s leading cultural icons. Born in 1901, he began his career as an illustrator for magazines and movie posters, gaining a reputation for his versatility and sheer range across diverse genres and mediums. However, it was his mastery of naturalist, lyrical oil painting that became his hallmark, and by 1953, he was just one of two artists to receive the country’s highest artistic honor, the Alinga Kyaw Zwa, in recognition of his sophistication and the depth of his oeuvre. Still Life is a quintessential Ngwe Gaing masterwork, rendering the ordinary and every day with a meticulous attention to detail. Here, the artist frames a table teeming with seafoodand produce, the very picture of abundance. This visual richness is further heightened by a richness of color, and this work is distinguished for Ngwe Gaing’s fidelity of color, harking back to a rich classical European tradition of still life works. Ngwe Gaing’s artistic practice was to mix multiple colors upon the brush itself, before layering them directly onto the canvas, which contributed to his organic, complex color designs.

Above all, Still Life is a study in visual perspective, something Ngwe Gaing liberally drew from Western techniques courtesy of his teacher Ba Nyan, who had been the leading figure of innovation in modern Burmese art. This work was executed entirely in a Western vein, featuring a very tactile sense of mass with naturalistic perspective and shading. His focus on representing the extent of light and shadow is immediately evident, in the sheen of reflective silver and blue from the fish’s scales, and the glazing across the peels of the fruit.

This work is a stunning technical display of Ngwe Gaing’s skill and sensitivity for colors, but also demonstrates a progressive evolution of styles in Burmese art, borrowing the best aspects of representation and framing from the Western tradition and embedding them into a new, definitive Burmese visual identity.