Canadian architect and artist ()
Maxwell Bates | |
|---|---|
| Born | Maxwell Bennett Bates 14 December Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| Died | 4 September () (aged&#;73) Victoria, British Columbia |
| Alma&#;mater | Provincial Institute of Technology and Art in Calgary |
| Spouses | May Watson &#; &#; (m.&#;; died&#;)&#;Charlotte Kintzle &#; (m.&#;)&#; |
| Awards | CM |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Buildings | St. Mary's Cathedral |
Maxwell BatesCM RCA LL.D (14 December – 14 September ) was an architect and expressionistpainter.
Born in Calgary, Alberta in , Bates started painting at an early age; his piece In the Kitchen was painted when he was 15 years old. As a young adult, he worked for his father's architecture firm. His father, William Stanley Bates, was himself a prominent architect in early Calgary who designed the Burns Building () and the Grain Exchange ().
Bates studied with Lars Jonson Haukaness at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art in Calgary from –[1] In Bates moved to England, where he supported himself as a door-to-door vacuum salesman while exhibiting his art work at the Wertheim Gallery. In England he associated with promising young artists such as Barbara Hepworth and Victor Pasmore.
As a member of the British Territorial Army in , Bates was captured in France and became a prisoner of war in Thuringia. He remained a POW until This experience was captured in his book A Wilderness of Days.
Bates returned to Calgary in to work with his father's architectural firm again. His first wife May Watson, whom he married in , died in He then married Charlotte Kintzle in
In Bates studied at the Brooklyn Museum; took Drawing and Painting with Max Beckmann and Analysis and Criticism with Abraham Rattner.[2] As an architect, his most notable work was St. Mary's Cathedral, which was consecrated in
Bates suffered a stroke in In he moved from Calgary to Victoria, British Columbia. He suffered a second stroke in and died in Victoria in
His work has been showcased at art galleries worldwide and retrospective exhibitions have been shown in galleries such as the Mackenzie Art Gallery (),[3] the Winnipeg Art Gallery (),[2] the Vancouver Art Gallery (),[4]and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (), curated by Ian M. Thom.[5]
In , he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Calgary.[6] In he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.[7]
Bates was a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (Member Life Member ); a full member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts () and a member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour (C.S.P.W.C.) (); Canadian Society of Graphic Art (C.S.G.A.) (); the Alberta Society of Artists; the B.C. Society of Artists (); the Federation of Canadian Artists (F.C.A.) (); the Canadian Group of Painters (C.G.P.) (); and the Calgary Arts Club.[3][8] In Victoria, B.C. he was a member and the first president of the Limners, a group formed in which he helped to found.[9][10]