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Asian Art Museum: Burma and Siam (or Thailand)
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The current exhibit up at the Asian is different in many ways from the preceding exhibit - different countries naturally, different histories (especially during the crucial 19th century) and completely different artistic aesthetic. But here's a bit of historical background from the museum's website which makes the show even more interesting. Unlike Japan, which modernized rapidly in the 19th century and was conducting its own wars of expansion against China and Russia, both Burma and Siam had to fight off European colonial designs on their territory. Siam (or Thailand) was successful but Burma was not and was eventually annexed into the British Raj. The royal family was abolished and the British imposed a government whose economic policies, while benefiting some, didn't help the average Burmese farmer at all.
Most people know about Siam from the movie "The King and I. " While Anna Leonowens was an imaginative writer, her portrayal of King Mongkut was colored by her Victorian prejudices. She and the king most assuredly did not fall in love and the people of Siam still resent the way he was portrayed in her book, the play and the ensuing Hollywood movies.
"King Mongkut or Rama IV (1804-1868) was a Buddhist monk for many years before succeeding to the throne in 1851. As a monk, Mongkut studied widely, even learning English. He traveled around the country, becoming acquainted with ordinary people in a way most princes never could have. Eventually, he undertook a reform of Thai Buddhist doctrine and practice. As king, he modernized many aspects of his kingdom’s life while fending off threats from the British and other European colonialists."
Burma is another country that has only made the new when there's yet another tragedy connected with the current regime. What makes this even more tragic is how hard the Burmese fought to gain their independence from the British, who annexed the country in the 19th century and turned it into a province of the Raj.
"In 1800 Burma was large and powerful, and intent on expanding its influence and control to neighboring areas. It had already sacked the capital of Siam and had subjugated another nearby kingdom. In the years around 1820, Burma imposed its control over two more kingdoms.
The Burmese could look back to a glorious past. The kingdom of Pagan, which flourished between about 1050 and 1250, was a major center of learning and of Buddhist piety, and to this day its ruined capital is one of the most impressive medieval cities in the world.
The Burmese kings forced thousands people the conquered to settle in Burma. Many were farmers, but some were scholars, artists, musicians, and dancers. All the arts of Burma, already highly developed, were further enriched by their skills. Also enriching was the availability of foreign luxury goods: a British visitor in 1795 noticed European, Indian, and Chinese textiles, dishes, and glassware.
In 1824-1826, however, the Burmese lost the first of three wars to the British, and had to give up their recent conquests. The kingdom and its leaders were stunned. After being defeated a second time in 1852, and being forced to cede the vital port city of Rangoon and the entire southern section of their realm, they rallied and set out on a program of modernization, introducing Western knowledge and technology.
As part of the effort to turn over a new leaf, King Mindon (1853-1878) founded a new capital, formally extolled as “City of Gems” and “Land of Victory,” but known to outsiders as Mandalay. The building of a new capital was a bonanza for artists and artisans, and a number of the art objects displayed here must have been made for Mandalay.
All of the efforts of King Mindon and his court fell short. The next king floundered, and in 1885 the Burmese lost a final war with the British. The king was exiled, and Burma reduced to a colony—just one part of British India. While Buddhist ritual objects were of course still needed, the demand for adornments for courtiers and palaces disappeared overnight. Patronage was disrupted, but artists found new customers among rich merchants and foreigners."
Kipling could write in a nostalgic vein:
By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin' eastward to the sea,
There's a Burma girl a-settin', and I know she thinks o' me;
For the wind is in the palm-trees, and the temple-bells they say:
"Come you back, you British soldier; come you back to Mandalay!"
Come you back to Mandalay,
Where the old Flotilla lay:
Can't you 'ear their paddles chunkin' from Rangoon to Mandalay?
On the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin'-fishes play,
An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!
But by WWII, the British were so disliked that some Burmese nationalists sided with the Japanese (as did some Indian nationalists). Burma gained its independence in 1947 but the ensuing decades have been a rocky period.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Burma#British_rule
George Orwell's novel of British colonial life in Burma: http://www.george-orwell.org/Burmese_Days/index.html
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