Front Cover:

Illustration of Natkadaw and the Burmese Orchestra by Paw Oo Thet.Watercolor, dimensions 14 x 10 inches, Mandalay, mid 1960s. Gift of Louis andBarbara Cohen. BC94.1.10. Courtesy of the Burma Art Collection, Center for BurmaStudies, Northern Illinois University.

Cover design: Sophia Varcados, Northern Illinois University.

This watercolor by artist Paw Oo Thet is a colorful example of a typical scene of anatpwe ceremony, where an homage to the 37 nats is performed by mediums to gaintheir protection. The illustration represented here portrays the dance of one of thenatkanna, with the tiger of U Min Lay a reference to Ma Ma U’s story. On the backgroundfigures a Burmese orchestra which is indispensable to the performance as itis announcing through music the arrival of a spirit (manifested by the medium’sdance). Each nat has their own individual dance and music. In the foreground is theindispensable kadawpwe or bucket of food off ered to the nats made of hand ofbananas, green coconut, and leaves of thabye.

This watercolor by Paw Oo Thet is part of a set illustrating various legends and natstories. Initially this set was commissioned to illustrate one of the books on folktalesby the famous writer Khin Myo Chit for whom he already did A Wonderland ofBurmese Legends. This beautiful set of watercolors was given to the Burma Art Collectionat NIU by a couple of diplomats who had acquired them while in Burmaunder Ne Win’s era. Paw Oo Thet’s watercolors and paintings are strongly representativeof Burma Modern Art movement, which had fi rst emerged a few decadesearlier through the artists, Baji Aung Soe and U Kin Maung (Bahn). The movementreceived its main support from diplomats and from the Burma America Institutewhich sponsored many important art shows of the 1960s, including Paw Oo Thet(Renard 2009: 225). As an illustrator, cartoonist, and painter, he was a leader of themovement in its later phases and influenced greatly Burmese artists until today.While he was influenced by many western artists, his style helped usher in auniquely Burmese genre. He was popular both with the art scenes of Yangon andMandalay as well as with American expatriates, which explains why a lot of hisartwork can be found in the United States.

Journal of Burma Studies

In this Issue

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The Transnational Flow of Music from Burma to the United States
Heather MacLachlan
pp. 31-62
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jbs.2016.0003
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Revisiting the Nineteenth-Century Marketplace, and the Chinese Community in Moulmein
Yi Li
pp. 63-103
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jbs.2016.0004
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Kipling, “Mandalay” and Burma in the Popular Imagination
Andrew Selth
pp. 105-148
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jbs.2016.0005
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The Social Dynamics of Pagoda Repair in Upper Myanmar
Elizabeth H. Moore, Win Maung (Tampawaddy)
pp. 149-198
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jbs.2016.0006
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Yangon’s New Stock Exchange in Comparative Analysis
T.F. Rhoden
pp. 199-227
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jbs.2016.0000
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From the Editors
Alicia Turner, Lilian Handlin
pp. vi-x
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jbs.2016.0001
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