Sold for: $11,250

PROVENANCE
A Distinguished Private Collection, Vancouver

LITERATURE
Ian M. Thom, Maxwell Bates: A Retrospective, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 1982, page 27, listed page 44, catalogue #107
Nancy Townshend, Maxwell Bates: Landscapes 1948 -1978, Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery, 1982, reproduced page 23

EXHIBITED
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Maxwell Bates: A Retrospective, September 9 – October 17, 1982, traveling in 1982 – 1983 to the Glenbow Museum, Calgary, and Confederation Centre Art Gallery, Charlottetown, catalogue #107

Foothills, Farm Couple, Moonrise is a charming and poetic work from 1967, a masterful example from a prime period in the career of Maxwell Bates. Ian Thom described the mid-1960s as a time of “exceptional productivity and exceptional success” for Bates—when he was at “the height of his powers.” Bates had successfully developed his unique personal style, and while he never ceased experimenting, in works like Foothills, Farm Couple, Moonrise we see a master at ease.

The painting has a profound and peaceful sense of balance and harmony. The naive angular figures are signature Bates, their simple forms conveying appreciation and contentment as they gaze at the moon. For the landscape, Bates has used a rich terra cotta colour as a warm underpaint, adding gestural bands of mustard, then green, and finally baby blue, completing the perfect spectrum of soft organic colours. Considering that Bates was living in Victoria in 1967, we can view Foothills, Farm Couple, Moonrise as a fond and nostalgic interpretation of his former home.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars

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