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Maxwell Bates (December 14, 1906-September 14
1980) was a Canadian architect and
impressionism|impressionist painter.

Born in Calgary, Alberta in 1906, 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; he
designed the Burns Building (1912) and the Grain
Exchange (1909).

In 1931, Bates moved to England.  Along with
spending some time as a door-to-door vacuum
salesman, he did have pieces showing in several
exhibits at the Wertheim Gallery.  In England he
joined a group of promising young artists that
included Barbara Hepworth and Victor Pasmore.

As a member of the British Territorial Army in
1940, Bates was captured in France and became a
prisoner of war in Thuringia.  He remained a POW
until 
1945.  This experience was captured in his 1978
book A Wilderness of Days.  

Bates returned to Calgary in 1946 to work with his
father's architectural firm 
again.  His first wife May Watson, whom he married
in 1949, died in 1952.  He then married Charlotte
Kintzle in 1954.

In 1949, Bates studied at the Brooklyn Museum with
artist Max Beckmann.
As an architect, his most notable work was St.
Mary's Cathedral (Calgary)|St. Mary's Cathedral,
which was consecrated in 1957.

Bates moved from Calgary to Victoria, British
Columbia in 1962 after suffering his first stroke
in 1961.  He suffered a second stroke in 1978 and
died in Victoria on September 14, 1980.

His work has been showcased at art galleries
worldwide and retrospective exhibitions have been
shown in galleries such as the Winnipeg Art
Gallery and the Vancouver Art Gallery.  In 1971 he
received and honorary degree|honourary doctorate
from the University of Calgary.

==External links==
*http://maxwellbates.net/ Maxwell Bates web site
*http://cybermuse.gallery.ca/cybermuse/search/arti
st_work_e.jsp?iartistid=336 Some images of Bates's
work