signed and dated 1975 upper right; titled on the stretcher
20 × 15.75 in (50.8 × 40.0 cm)
Auction Estimate:$7,000 - $9,000
Sale date:May 31, 2016
Price Realized
$6,325
(including Buyer's Premium)
Provenance
Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver
Private Collection, United States
Literature
Nancy Townshend, “Maxwell Bates: Canada's Premier Expressionist of the 20th Century: His Art, Life and Prisoner of War Notebook”, Edmonton, 2005, page 45
Maxwell Bates was a painter, poet, author, and architect by trade, and was energized by the prospect of working on multiple creative projects at once. “Taken as a whole, his post-war art...can be regarded as a remarkable culmination of his search for meaning and social justice, and...about dilating the present through rhythm to links to eternity.” Following his move to Victoria in 1961, Bates channelled his creativity toward expressionist figure studies and landscapes, as seen in the colourful and dynamic “Two Figures.” Here, a bright still life of pink flowers and citrus fruits separates two fashionably-dressed conversing women.
