It is no secret that Dato' Hoessein Enas loved painting women… Malays, Iban and for a little exotica, Korean, Javanese, Balinese and as in here, Burmese (probably the only portrait of Burmese lady). The classic beauty with the ethnic costume offering an exotic embellishment. When he was in London under a UNESCO Fellowship and Asia Foundation grant in 1960, he had done portraits of a bevy of Caucasian lasses, and also slipped in a solo at the Charniel Gallery in Chelsea, London. Dato' Hoessein shows the demure Burmese woman seated on a chair sideways, unlike the great U Lun Gywe’s standard of having them in dancing poses and with posteriors protruding. Her back is slightly turned, her pretty face is in profile accentuating the slender neck and the radiant eyelashes. The woman, who looks modernised, does not seem to be in her Myanmar habitat, as her face is sans the white thanaka cosmetic paste. There is a regal air about her, and her elegance shows in her dressing: A short muslin eingyi (blouse) with revealing waistline shows some body flesh, and the only spark of striking colour can be seen in the longyi sarong. One of the most prominent Malaysian pioneer artists, Indonesian-born Dato' Hoessein Enas founded the Angkatan Pelukis Semenanjung (later SeMalaysia) which set the figurative tradition in the Merdeka years. He was granted Malaysian citizenship in 1956, the year he was commissioned by Shell Malaysia for The Malaysians portrait project. The Sultan of Selangor made him Royal Portrait Artist in 1990 and the next year, conferred the Dato'ship on him. He was accorded a Retrospective by the National Art Gallery in 1966. His awards included fellowships from UNESCO (1960) and the United States (1968), Asia Foundation grant (1960) and the Colombo Plan (1968).