PROVENANCE
Beckett Gallery, Hamilton
Private Collection, Ontario

LITERATURE
Ramsay Derry, The World of Robert Bateman, 1985, page 152, reproduced page 153
Stanwyn G. Shetler, Portraits of Nature: Paintings by Robert Bateman, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1987, pages 15 and 63, reproduced pages 62 and 87, as plate 15

EXHIBITED
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, Portraits of Nature: Paintings by Robert Bateman, January 17 – May 17, 1987

Wrote Stanwyn G. Shetler in an exhibition catalogue for the Smithsonian Institution: “The poignancy of Bateman’s Mallard Family is its reminiscence of sunset over the prairie pothole country. Although the mallard is an extremely prolific species, it is vulnerable nonetheless—as vulnerable as the rapidly disappearing marshes on which it depends.”

Robert Bateman described the work’s genesis as follows: “At sunset at Cape May on the New Jersey coast, I was attracted by the rich patterns in the lush salt-marsh grass, and the rhythmic shapes it made with the bright water. The painting has a rich, romantic mood, but I thought of it as a color-field painting of the sort made famous by Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko, with the main force being the broad band of yellow striking across it.”

Bateman is celebrated internationally for his original artworks and limited edition prints that capture the wonder and majesty of wildlife. As botanist Shetler wrote, “As artist he is able to convey a vivid comprehension of diversity because, as naturalist, he has mastered the particularity of nature.”

The artist’s passion for nature can be traced to his teenage years, when he worked summers at a government wildlife research camp in northern Ontario. At university he studied geography, taking geological field trips to remote locations including Ungava Bay and Hudson Bay. After being accredited as a teacher of geography and art, he undertook with friends a round-the-world trip by Land Rover with stops in Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Australia. Such adventures would inform his renowned environmental advocacy, as a fundraiser and spokesperson for the protection of animals’ natural habitats.

The recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees, Bateman was named a “Hero of Conservation” by the National Audubon Society. In 2015, he was the first visual artist to win the World Ecology Award from the Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center. Besides the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, his works have been shown in prestigious galleries around the world and are held by public institutions including the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, the Denver Art Museum, the Glenbow Museum, the Hamilton Art Gallery and the National Museum of Wildlife Art, in Jackson, Wyoming. His artistic journey and significant contributions to both art and conservation will be featured in an exhibition at the Penticton Art Gallery, Unexpected Bateman, from July 5 to September 14, 2024.

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