Seah Kim Joo (b. 1939) VillagersPROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF PROFESSOR JOSEF SILVERSTEIN AND MARILYN COOPER SILVERSTEINSeah Kim Joo (b. 1939)Villagers signedbatik painting85.8 by 45.3 cm.33 3/4 by 17 7/8 in.ProvenanceSamat Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur Acquired directly from the above in 1967 Private Collection of Professor Josef Silverstein (1922-2021) and Marilyn Cooper Silverstein (1930-2021) Thence by descent to the present owner 佘金裕 村民 簽名（右下） 蠟染畫 來源 吉隆坡Samat Art畫廊 藏家得自上述畫廊 Josef Silverstein教授和Marilyn Cooper Silverstein私人收藏 現藏家繼承自上述來源 Professor Josef Silverstein (1922-2021) and his wife Mrs Marilyn Cooper Silverstein (1930-2021) began collecting works of art on their first visit to Burma1 as a young academic couple in 1955. They went on to become good friends and supporters of three leading artists in Myanmar's modern art movement in the 1960s: Paw Oo Thet (1936-1993), Win Pe (b. 1935), and Aung Khin (1921-1996). The Silverstein Collection contains these artists' early works, which are rarely seen at auction. A renowned Myanmar expert, Professor Silverstein devoted his career as a scholar to Myanmar before retiring as a Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA. He authored and edited several influential books on Myanmar, including The Political Legacy of Aung San; Burmese Politics: The Dilemma of National Unity; and Burma: Military Rule on the Politics of Stagnation. The Josef Silverstein Papers (1944-2002), his professional papers and research collection, are now housed in Cornell University's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections in Ithaca, New York. Between 1970 and 1972, Professor Silverstein served as the third director of Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, now known as ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute. He laid the foundations for the Institute and worked closely with Dr Goh Keng Swee and David Marshall to establish the Institute as one of the first Southeast Asian research centres dedicated to the study of the region. 1. Myanmar was previously known as Burma from the period under British control until 1989.