signed & dated lower right; titled on the stretcher verso
Provenance: Formerly from the collection of businessman and philanthropist Charles Bronfman (Claridge Collection), Montreal QC
Literature: “Maxwell Bates in Retrospect 1921-1971” (Vancouver Art Gallery; 1973); “Maxwell Bates: A Canadian Expressionist” (Art Gallery of Alberta; 2004); “Maxwell Bates: Canada’s Premier Expressionist of the 20th Century: His Art, Life and Prisoner of War Notebook” (Nancy Townsend; Nancy Townshend and Snyder Hedlin Fine Arts; 2005).
Max Bates was the first influential and internationally recognized artist to have been born in Calgary (and likely Alberta). This early artistic pioneer and iconoclast, once banned from exhibiting in Calgary, is now considered one of Canada’s most important expressionist painters. In June of 1930, Bates left the inhospitable local art scene (then very traditionalist) for London, England, travelling by cattle train and boat. He arrived in 1931, staying for ten years. During this time, he is said to have taken in some two thousand art exhibitions, and he exhibited regularly. Bates became a member of the Twenties Group (1932-1939), an association of prominent Expressionists and Surrealists. In an important 1937 exhibition, Bates’ work was exhibited alongside artistic innovators such as Picasso, Matisse, and Kandinsky.
At the outset of WWII, Bates joined the British Territorial Army and, ultimately, spent the next five years as a prisoner of war. Bates returned to Calgary following the war, in January 1946, and joined his father’s architectural firm, where he had earlier apprenticed, though he never abandoned his art. In 1949, he studied with expressionist Max Beckmann at the Brooklyn Museum Art School in New York.
Max Bates came to be highly regarded and influential within the artistic community. He is well known for his expressive figure studies, which are characterized by bold colour, and distortions of plane and form. Since 1960, Max Bates has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, including: Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery (Regina); the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria; Winnipeg Art Gallery; Vancouver Art Gallery; and Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton). He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Calgary in 1971, and was awarded the Order of Canada in 1980. His work is found in numerous public collections including: National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa); Glenbow Museum (Calgary); Art Gallery of Greater Victoria; Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto); and Tate Gallery (London).
