Win Pe

Win Pe (; born 16 June 1935) is one of Myanmar’s most celebrated living artists. Along with his close friends Kin Maung Yin and Paw Oo Thett, Win Pe was a leader of Myanmar’s modern art movement in the 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s, he was a successful film director, winning Myanmar’s equivalent of the Academy Award in 1981. He is also a respected short story writer.

Early Training

Win Pe is from Mandalay, the historical and cultural capital of Myanmar and from a prominent Mandalay family. His father, Shwepy U Ba Tin, a famous scholar of Myanmar art, history and culture, was very supportive of Win Pe’s artistic development. While his father was an anti-colonialist and preferred traditional Myanmar music, he was open to his son’s discovery of American Jazz and European classical music which he heard from Radio Ceylon and American movies The following year, he attended the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa and earned an Honorary Fellowship there.