Ko Shwe Oung Thame in front of one of his paintings that will be on show from November 2 to 10.

ONE of Myanmar’s very first impressionist artists, Ko Shwe Oung Thame (1935-1994), will be honoured at the 12th annual Shwe Generation art exhibition at the Myanmar Traditional Artists and Artisans Organisation building at 188/192, Bogyoke market from November 2 to 10.

On show from 9am to 5pm every day — except Monday, November 5 — will be 60 oil, watercolour and mixed-media paintings by Ko Shwe Oung Thame and 50 other artists.

Myo Thant Oung, a central executive committee of the Myanmar Traditional Artists and Artisans Organisation, helped to organise this year’s show.

“We aim to do this exhibition once every year to repay our debt of gratitude to our former teacher,” said Myo Thant Oung.

Some of the paintings on display will also be for sale, ranging from FEC100 to 1000, and 20 percent of all revenue will be donated to homes for the aged, orphanages, monasteries and free funeral service societies.

Ko Shwe Oung Thame was one of the founders of the Gallery Orient, which opened in 1970, and the Lokanat Galleries that opened in 1971. He also served as a lecturer at Yangon University’s Kyeemyindaing campus from 1981 to 1985.

Before his untimely death in 1994 Ko Shwe Oung Thame organised two international art exhibitions: The first was in Honolulu in 1986 and the second took place in Seoul in 1988.

Equally talented with a pen as he was with a paintbrush, Ko Shwe Oung Thame also wrote and published two books of reflections on life and art — Aju and Yadanar Shwe Gu hma Htwet Yway.

He studied under the famous artist U Ba Thett in Mandalay; alongside other well-known artists U Paw Oo Thett, U Khin Maung Yin and U Lun Gywe.

Included in the Shwe Generation exhibition will be some pieces by his former students U Win Pe Myint, U Bogie, U Tin Maung Oo and U Tynt Naing, all of whom are now established artists in their own right.