Old Paintings by Othmansor

These paintings were left to the elements behind the bedroom door at our Taiping home, and has been with the family since 1970. According to MCKam, the artist painted them in 1968, when he was a bachelor and a teacher. Almarhum Othman Mansor was one talented artist who in 1980 was even sent to the States to study art.

These painting were given to bapak, during one of our visit to his studio home in Assam Kumbang, immediately after he married her in 1970. Almarhum offered one of the paintings for bapak to choose, but bapak could not choose one over the other; so instead Almarhum generously gave both of them away to him.

That's how we came into possession of these two priceless paintings. I should know and I knew it to the fine details as I was there when it happened. I may be young then, as a seven year old, but that conversation remains etched in my memory.

 

One of his painting now resides in Balai Seni Lukis Negara. He won second place in a national competition sponsored by RRI, circa 73/74 when he was a student at USM. It was not a competition for the amateur actually, as the winner was one Latiff Mohidin, Malaysia's most celebrated artist and poet.

That shows how talented he was then. He passed away at a very young age of 37 in 1982. Talented (and nice) people normally die young. He left a very young family obviously - his widow (my auntie) at 27 and his three children, the youngest at two.

This was painted in 1968 and I hope his son and my cousin will be able to restore them.

Now Balai Seni Lukis Negara has two paintings, one done by him and another one by his son, as they had recently purchased a painting by his equally talented son Arif Fauzan Othman. Kemana jatuhnya kuah kalau tidak ke nasi.

His painting (murals if you must) also used to adorn the main entrance of Taiping zoo in the 70s and 80s.

Alfatihah to my uncle Othman Mansor (Othmansor). Moga Allah mencucuri rahmat ke atas ruhnya, dan dimasukkan dalam golongan orang2 yg beriman.