M.T. Hla (U Tun Hla)
| M.T. Hla (U Tun Hla) | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1874 |
| Died | 1946 (aged 72) |
| Nationality | Burmese |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Western-Style Painting |
M.T. Hla (U Tun Hla, Burmese: ထွန်းလှ) (1874–1946) was an early pioneer watercolor and oil painter of Burma who painted in the Western style. M.T. Hla was the signature he used for signing his paintings, which was apparently derived from the initials in the name Maung Tun Hla.
M.T. Hla was born in a village by the name of Gyaung Wyne in the Tuntay township and received a monastic education. It is said that the monastery where he schooled was decorated in traditional Burmese floral arabesque and with imagery of mythical creatures and that M.T. Hla spent his time copying these designs in drawings. Of his own accord, he learned traditional one-line drawing, a singular technique of Burmese depiction in which imagery is often completed with long floral lines or even, from beginning to end, with one stroke of a drawing or painting implement. When he left the monastery, he became a painter, and like other artists such as Saya Chone (1866–1977) and Saya Aye (1872–1930), who had acquired skills in Traditional Burmese painting, he began to decorate pavilions at festivals, religious events, and funerals of monks. M.T. Hla’s early background in Traditional painting is significant for although he embraced Western-style painting with much enthusiasm, remnants of Traditional depiction remained in his work, especially in his portraits.
In the early 1900s, M.T. Hla encountered the British artist Sir Gerald Kelly (1879–1972), who came to Burma to paint its scenes and who later established his reputation in England largely through his landscapes of Burma and portraits of Burmese dancers and ladies. Gerald Kelly subsequently became a painter of note in Britain, becoming Official State Portrait Artist of the King and Queen during World War II and holding the office of President of the Royal Academy of Arts from the 1949 to 1954. According to the art scholar Min Naing, M.T. Hla received training of some kind from Gerald Kelly while Kelly was in Burma.
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