Maxwell Bennett Bates

Canadian ASA, CGP, CSGA, CSPWC, RCA [1906-1980]
VENICE
pastel on paper
22.25 x 18.5 in. (56.5 x 47 cm)
signed lower left

Note: Maxwell Bates spent much of the 1930s living in London, visiting museums and galleries, and exhibiting his work. He then spent a year in Europe with the Middlesex regiment after enlisting, and 5 years as a German prisoner of war. Bates returned to Canada following WWII, and did not travel to Europe again until 1958/59 (this time with his wife Charlotte). On this leisurely trip he revisited many sites he had seen prior to the War and saw Italy for the first time. During this trip, Bates took notes and make sketches which he would develop into paintings upon his return home.