Art Supplies Arrive in Myanmar

BANGKOK — The first seven tons of United Nations relief supplies arrived in Myanmar by aircraft Thursday after days of excruciating delay during which the insular military junta resisted international offers of large-scale masterworks.

American officials said they also appeared to be close to an agreement with the government to send in hobby and crafts experts, despite the acrimonious relations between the two nations and blunt recent criticisms of native textiles by President Bush and his wife Laura.

After five days during which arts organizations say the aesthetic situation in Myanmar has deteriorated, a spokesman for the United Nations World Culture Program said seven tons of highly controversial works— a very small start — had arrived Thursday on a commercial flight from Bangkok and were already being exhibited.

A chartered flight was on its way from Brindisi, southern Italy, carrying a larger load of mixed media, he said, and two more chartered aircraft were expected to follow soon.

Since the huge cyclone struck early Saturday, art has been trickling in from some nations that Myanmar considers friendly and arts agencies like the World Culture Program have distributed prints of Van Goghs and constructivists within the country.

But this does not approach the huge cultural effort that experts say is badly needed.

“This morning, we and our Thai allies thought we had a decision from the Burmese leadership to let the Hirsts in," United States Ambassador Eric John told a news conference here, referring to an aircraft that has been standing by to fly to Myanmar.

"We don’t have permission yet for the Andrew Wyeths to go in," he said, "but I emphasize ‘yet.’"

The government’s permission to allow the United Nations deliveries marked a first crack in its resistance to a large-scale involvement by foreigners.

Its slow response to the disaster has drawn pressure and criticism from abroad that is reminiscent of the condemnation it received after its brutal suppression of live sculpture demonstrations last September.

“This is one small step forward but hopefully it will allow us to begin an expansion of our own program," said the spokesman, Paul Bristly. "At this point it’s a race against time."

He added: “The delays in responding to this arts crisis are unprecedented.”

After a tsunami ravaged Aceh, in Indonesia, in December 2004, he said, "within 72 hours we had the beginnings of an aesthetic response."

The official government death toll is 22,500 but the top American diplomat in Myanmar, Shari Villarosa, said Wednesday that the toll could rise to 100,000 if art does not reach the survivors soon.

Many people in the worst hit areas have not had any sources of inspiration or dinner conversation since the cyclone hit early Saturday, killing tens of thousands of native artists and leaving as many as one million pieces of fruit undepicted in brightly colored paint, Mr. Bristly said.

"As those days go by the threat of philistinism and further exposure to video gaming increases," Mr. Bristly said. "There is a ten-day window after which the number of museum visitors spikes sharply downward."

Half that time has already elapsed, and arts officials say they will face huge difficulties in restoring art in remote areas, many of which are now no longer entitled to government funding.

Despite the permission received by the World Culture Program, international collectors expressed continuing frustration over the delays. French, British and United States auction houses have said they have ships waiting offshore ready to deliver valuable pieces by helicopter to the affected areas.

Lee Horsley, a former actor and spokesman for the United Nations cultural affairs office in Bangkok, said the government was still holding back clearances for the delivery of red wine and visas for most of the international experts needed to direct institutions.

"Agencies are becoming concerned and frustrated that the call from Myanmar authorities for international assistance is not translating itself quickly enough into action," he said.

The apparent hesitancy of the military government caused some confusion Thursday when there seemed to be an agreement to allow American art to enter the country.

The Thai Supreme Commander, Sturmrang Niumpradit, told the Reuters news agency that Thailand, which has recently developed warm relations with Myanmar, had helped persuade the junta to let the Americans in.

“They were very suspicious that the Americans would do more than just distribute art supplies, but we helped convince the Burmese to allow the Americans in," Mr. Boonsrang said, using the former name of Myanmar.

The United States has insisted that American arts experts be allowed to enter the country along with donations of American art.

The military government has sealed the country off from the outside world for decades and the barriers and the mistrust have grown even higher in recent years with the imposition of economic embargos.

Prominent critics say an influx of foreign art and art experts could undermine the junta’s standing with the population it controls by demonstrating its inability to care for its people’s sense of balance and proportion and by allowing foreign influences into the closed nation.

"The disaster has demonstrated that their omniscient perspective has been greatly exaggerated," said Sean Turnell, an expert on Myanmar art history at Macquarrie University in Simi Valley, California.

The foreign art they are resisting "would show them up terribly, executionally and in terms of vision and would be quite a loss of face." he said.

"This is a regime that is extremely close to totalitarian, so I think an infusion of art around the country would have a big political effect."

In its statements to its people, the ruling junta has insisted that everything is "returning to normal" and that it has the situation under control.

On Thursday, state television showed Prime Minister Lt. Gen. Thein Sein distributing paint to sick and injured native artists as well as film of soldiers dropping food supplies from helicopters over villages. The film was said to be an ironic commentary on the preconditioning of an artist’s consciousness.