Dato' Hoessein Enas had painted a plethora of women, mostly of Austronesian stock, around this region – Malay, Indonesian (mainly Javanese) and Filipinas, and the odd passing exotica from Burma and South Korea, in ritual cultural dresses and ornaments. Unless commissioned, like the one he painted of Caucasian women when on his England trip in 1960, he preferred young nubile girls from the rural areas, with a halo of innocence and unblemished natural complexion. Locally he had done the tribal Sarawak (like Iban and the Muruts (Lun Bawang), Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan. He also preferred the full studio concentration, instead of alfresco sketches. This portrait looks a bit more ‘modern' from his bevy of the portraited, with an angle that allowed her long tresses to flow naturally to the shoulders and chest. The pink dress also harmonizes with her rosy cheeks and lips. Before him, there were Peter Harris' itinerant pastel portrait sketches. Indonesian-born Dato' Hoessein Enas became a Malaysian citizen in 1956, and the National Art Gallery accorded him a Retrospective in 1966. He was bestowed the title of ‘royal painter' by the Sultan of Selangor, who also awarded him the Dato' title. His awards included the Unesco and United States fellowships. He was also a two-time Colombo Plan scholar and was also given an Asia Foundation grant. He founded the Angkatan Pelukis SeMalaysia (1956) based on a similar association he founded in Medan, Indonesia (1944).