Paw Thame

Paw Thame (1948–2014)

Largely self-taught, Paw Thame came of age artistically in the studios of Mandalay’s leading painters. His earliest and most formative relationship was with Aung Khin (1921–1996), Burma’s best-known Impressionist. As a young student—then studying botany at Mandalay University—he would ride his bicycle to Aung Khin’s home to work in the studio, followed by long conversations in nearby tea shops. There, Paw Thame expressed his growing dissatisfaction with the prevailing artistic climate in Burma. Having encountered modernism through books, he felt little affinity for Impressionism and was determined to move beyond it. Aung Khin, who treated him like a son, responded with patience and generosity, recognizing both his restlessness and his ambition.

Word of this young artist’s intensity reached Win Pe, then Dean of the Mandalay School of Fine Arts, who sought him out and encouraged him with essential materials—oil paints, brushes, and canvas. Paw Thame soon became a regular presence in the studios of Win Pe and Kin Maung (Bank), the latter emerging as his most profound influence. These relationships marked the beginning of lifelong friendships. Win Pe, in particular, remained a guiding force—at once mentor, father figure, colleague, and close friend—while also holding deep admiration for Paw Thame’s boldness and originality.

In 1975, Paw Thame founded the Peacock Gallery in Rangoon, the first space in Burma devoted exclusively to modern art. Around it gathered a generation of pioneering artists, including Bagyi Aung Soe, Win Pe, and Kin Maung Yin. At a time when “modern art” was commonly dismissed in Burma as something akin to the “psychopathic,” Paw Thame and his circle held their ground. Operating within the constraints of the socialist era, they organized exhibitions—often for the diplomatic community—that introduced a new visual language through painting, batik, papier découpé, plant-based works, and early sculptural forms.

Paw Thame emigrated to the United States in 1985, living in Hawaii, Atlanta, and Texas, and later became an American citizen. Some of his most powerful paintings date from this period. After Win Pe’s own arrival in the United States in 1994, the two artists continued their close exchange, regularly painting together. In 2008, after being introduced to Chris Dodge by Win Pe, Paw Thame returned to painting with renewed focus and held exhibitions in Myanmar, Thailand, and France. In collaboration with Dodge and Ma Thanegi, he authored I Am Cadmium Red, a rare and candid memoir of life as a modernist artist in Burma. His legacy was further consolidated by Hlaing Bwa’s 2016 monograph, The Life and Work of Paw Thame. Today, Paw Thame is recognized as one of the central figures of Burmese modern art.