" I was in Myanmar in January and thought you might enjoy these mosaics. Myanmar has a long history of mosaics which decorate their temples ( though not mosaics as we known them in the Western sense) but a very brief history of western style mosaics. I was able to visit an old high school in Yangon which had some mosaics created by artists in the late 1950’s, during the period when Myanmar was celebrating its independence from British Colonial rule and before the dictatorship of the generals started. These mosaics are especially rare as they are on walls of the former " Nat Mauk Technical High School" and have no religious significance, but rather they celebrate every day life in Myanmar. They were created within the first joyful decade of independence from British rule and before the rise of the military dictatorship of Myanmar. A number of Myanmar's most currently famous artists participated in their creation. I believe the vitreous glass came from Italy, mostly judging from some of the tiles I saw which resemble some Italian ones that I own. The artists probably had little or no experience making mosaics with vitreous glass, but at least one had embraced impressionism.They look best at a distance, where their pointillism blends into a whole. There are 4 huge mosaics, which I will call Dance, Landscape, Elephant, & Construction for lack of knowing their correct titles. The artists involved in this project both practicing artists and some of their students all went on to become some of Myanmar’s most famous artists. It is my understanding that some are still alive today. I believe the exact dates of the mosaics are 1957."
Richard Davis
