Maxwell Bennett 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. Bates was interested in expressionism and modernism at a young age, rejecting the traditionalist Beaux Arts training and British sensibility predominant at the time. Feeling restricted in Alberta, he left for England in June of 1930. Travelling by cattle train and boat, he arrived in London in 1931. Bates quickly became involved in artistic circles and began to exhibit regularly. He found much to admire in the works of the influential artists of the era, and was particularly intrigued by the romantic grotesquerie of Unit One artist Ed Burra. Over the next ten years, Bates 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, ultimately enduring five years as a prisoner of war, working in labour camps. While later in life Bates claimed that the essence of his artistic vision had not changed since 1930, he did concede that this experience intensified his art. It certainly would have enhanced his understanding of suffering, the human condition, and man’s potential for inhumanity. Bates returned to Calgary following the war, in January 1946, and joined his father's architectural firm, where he had earlier apprenticed. He would spend the following 15 years working as both an architect and an artist. As an architect, his most notable achievement was St. Mary's Cathedral (Calgary), which was completed in 1957. As an artist, Bates continued his training with expressionist Max Beckmann at the Brooklyn Museum Art School in New York (1949). He had his first Canadian solo exhibition in 1947, at Canadian Art Galleries, followed by a show in Vancouver and Saskatoon. The years between 1954 and 1960 were a particularly productive and notable period. The end of the decade brought a retrospective touring exhibition of his work (Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina), and an appointment to the RCA. Bates suffered a stroke in 1961, and moved to Victoria B.C. the following year. Here, he spear-headed the Limner Group, and continued to exhibit regularly, at Vancouver’s Bau-Xi Gallery and Calgary’s Canadian Art Galleries.
