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. Pioneer artist Dato' Hoessein Enas was accorded a Retrospective by the National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, in 1966, 10 years after being granted Malaysian citizenship. The Sultan of Selangor made him a royal painter in May 1990 and conferred the ‘Dato’ title on him in March 1991.  He is best known for his 56 commissioned paintings in the Shell collection called The Malaysians, done in 1956, the same year he founded the Angkatan Pelukis Semenanjung (later SeMalaysia), based on a similar society he helped form in Medan, Indonesia. His awards include the Unesco fellowships (1960), the United States fellowship (1969), an Asian Foundation grant (1960) and the Colombo Plan (twice in 1968 and 1976).