Additional Images

Provenance:

Loch Mayberry, Winnipeg, MB
Estate of John Van Haastrecht, Toronto, ON

Exhibited:

Covering the West: The Best of Southwest Art, organized by Southwest Art magazine and touring to Colorado Springs Fine Arts Centre, CO; Tuscon Museum of Art, Tuscon, AZ; National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Centre, Oklahoma City, OK; Autry Museum of Western Heritage, Los Angeles, CA; Alburquerque Museum of Art, Alburqureque, NM from Jun 1995 - Sep 1996.

Robert Bateman in Russia, touring to Russian State Museum, St. Petersburg; Ivanovo Regional State Museum; Tula Museum of Fine Art; Tsarytsyno Palace Art Museum, Moscow from Oct 2009 – Aug 2010.

Note:

Waddington’s is pleased to present two major canvases by Robert Bateman: Winter Run – Bull Moose, 1994 (lot 233) and Arctic Ice, 1996 (lot 234) in this auction. Produced during the artist’s travels to the Arctic and northern Canada, these canvases are prime examples of Bateman’s mid-1990 period and attest to his mastery in painting Canadian wildlife.

A dedicated naturalist, Bateman is internationally celebrated for his ability to pay close attention and capture the essence of the animal and its surrounding environment in his painting. His practice is largely informed by his environmental advocacy for the protection and conservation of animals’ natural habitats. “Perhaps, in some small way, I can raise the public’s consciousness about the value of those things that are vanishing and encourage people to protect our world for the future.”[1]

Bateman’s paintings have been exhibited extensively in Canada and abroad, including a major retrospective at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in 2007 and a touring exhibition to museums and galleries in Russia, and are held in private collections worldwide.

Robert Bateman describes Winter Run - Bull Moose:

"When winter comes, the ponds and marshes of the northland freeze over, sealing off the prime food source for many animals, especially the moose. However, the abundance of the boreal wetlands in summer enables the wintering animals to put on weight, storing up energy for the ensuing winter. The best food source in the frozen land is the twigs and bark of various shrubs.

This moose has been browsing his way through a willow swamp. The gentle snow of the night before has settled on every little twig. In fact, a few flakes are still falling, creating a counterpoint of delicate white tracery against the powerful planes of the moose's form. The tranquility of this scene is short-lived, however. For some reason, the bull moose decides to charge in my direction. At the very last moment he veers off, giving me a baleful glance as he thunders past."[2]

[1] Robert Bateman, New Works. (Vancouver, BC: Greystone Books, 2010), 22.
[2] robertbateman.ca/paintings/WinterRunBullMoose.htm accessed Oct 24 2024.