Ba Zaw came in contact with the work of the Australian painter Jesee Jewhurst Hilder (18811916) some time after Hilder's death in 1916 [REF].
In Burmese Painting: A Linear and Lateral History, Ranard speculates that Hilder's landscapes of Australia, done in subdued color in the British style, may have appealed to Ba Zaw because these works resembled the brownish orange landscapes of Burma.