After suffering a debilitating stroke, Maxwell Bates and his wife left Calgary for Victoria in 1962. His left leg was braced and his left arm entirely paralyzed. Despite this, and perhaps inspired by his new surroundings, Bates began painting again. What emerges from this period are among his most complex and interesting works, often in watercolour. While his oils from the period can be deceptively simple, his experiments in watercolour demonstrate a fascination with detail and embellishment, with rich colourful patterning across the picture plane.

This example, Children from 1964, is Bates at the height of his powers. Also and architect and a poet, Bates’ paintings are often informed by the sensibilities of these artforms. Allegorically rich and non-specific, his use of symbolic devices are not self evident but can be filled with different meanings. Take the three children here, each a different size, and each with their own garb. The boy is dressed up as what might be described as a French Revolutionary guard, while the girl in the middle wears a decorative patterned dress and the youngest to the left is seated in plainer clothes. The size of the children is distorted, as is the city, built upon itself in a flattened vertical hill, thick smoke as colour wash suffocating the sky. Bates was a master of casting a spell in his work, where the effect it has on the viewer is palpable, but an explanation is just out of reach.