signed lower right; titled on the label verso
inscribed verso by Bates’ close friend and colleague, John Snow: “painted about 1948 or /9”
Exhibited: Calgary Allied Arts Council, Women’s Committee
Literature: “Maxwell Bates: A Canadian Expressionist” (Michael Morris, David Silcox & Robin Skelton; The Edmonton Art Gallery; 2004); “Maxwell Bates: Landscapes/Paysages 1948-1978” (Nancy Townsend; Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery; 1982).
In January of 1946, Max Bates returned to Calgary after a 15 year transformative absence. During those years abroad Bates was immersed in the contemporary art scene in England; he exhibited extensively; he travelled the continent visiting museums and sketching; he joined the British Territorial Army at the outset of WWII; and, ultimately, was a prisoner of war for 5 years.
The period that immediately followed, from 1946 to 1949, was a period of post-war adjustment, stability, reestablishment, and a time of reconnection with the Calgary arts community, which was now more progressive and accepting. Bates connected with old friends (particularly W. L. Stevenson and John Snow), and made new ones (like Jock MacDonald, the new director of the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art). He joined the Calgary Group of Artists, the Canadian Society of Graphic Art, and the Alberta Society of Artists. This was a busy time, marked by support and encouragement. Even though Bates had rejoined his father’s architectural firm, and this would become his primary profession until 1961, he continued to paint extensively. He had his first Canadian solo exhibition in 1947, at Canadian Art Galleries, followed by a show in Vancouver and Saskatoon. He taught evening classes in life drawing, and children’s art classes at the Institute. Bates again left Calgary, briefly, during late 1949 and 1950 to marry his first wife, Mae, in her native New York, and to study at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
This work, painted during those post-war years in Calgary, depicts a street scene from the Connaught neighbourhood in which Bates grew up, and where he once again lived during this time. The view is to the north of Bates’ home, and while the houses have recently been torn down, the top right quadrant appears to show part of the old Wesley United Church, now home to the Calgary Opera.
