[1][2] There he exhibited an interest in drawing, but he was temperamental and one day quarreled with a teacher and quit school.
[3] It seems not to have been an institution of higher learning for when he returned to Burma, about 1908 or shortly thereafter, he continued with his secondary education at St. Paul’s English High School in Rangoon for two years.
[1][2] Following his studies at St. Paul’s, he became an agricultural officer for the colonial government,[1][2] which offered him the chance to tour the country, painting its scenes in his free time.
Although he developed a passion for Western-style painting, he had a great resentment of his colonial masters, especially British officers.
[5] Another notorious incident involving Maung Maung Gyi is a quarrel that he had with one of his superior British officers in the agricultural department, alleging punching the man and subsequently quitting his job as an agricultural officer for good.
In any event, during World War II, his house burned down and his entire collection was lost.
Wiles work has appeared in Christie’s auctions in recent years but with little biographical information about him beyond the fact that he was a 19th and 20th century painter.
[4] One of the four paintings in the Pitt Rivers Museum collection done by Maung Maiung Gyi is an exact replica of a painting entitled Express Steamer Passing Sagaing on page 146 of Talbot Kelly’s book.
The plein air mode of painting later became very common among Upper Burma painters such as Saya Saung and Ba Thet in his early works.