Robert McLellan Bateman (born 24 May 1930) is a Canadian naturalist and painter, born in Toronto, Ontario.

Career

Bateman was always interested in art, but never intended to make a living from it. He was fascinated by the natural world in his childhood; he recorded the sightings of all of the birds in the area of his house in Toronto and created small paintings with birds in their habitats. He found inspiration from the Group of Seven; later, he became interested in making abstract paintings of nature, strongly influenced by the work of Franz Kline. It was not until the mid-1960s that he changed to his present style, realism. In 1954, he graduated with a degree in geography from the Victoria College in the University of Toronto. Afterwards, he attended Ontario College of Education. Starting in 1957, Bateman travelled around the world for 14 months in a Land Rover with his friend J. Bristol Foster. As they made their way through Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Australia, Bateman painted and sketched what he saw.

Bateman became a high school teacher of art and geography, and continued focusing his life on art and nature. In 1999, the Audubon Society of Canada declared Bateman one of the top 100 environmental proponents of the 20th century.

He is also a spokesman for several environmental and preservation issues, using his art to raise funds for these causes. The majority of Bateman's paintings are in acrylic on various media, and have been shown in solo exhibitions around the world. He has been the subject of several films and books including The Art of Robert Bateman (1981), The World of Robert Bateman (1985), An Artist in Nature (1990), Natural Worlds (1996), Thinking Like a Mountain (2000), Birds (2002), New Works, (2010), Life Sketches (2015), Bateman’s Canada (2017) as well as several children's books.

Robert Bateman Secondary School in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Robert Bateman High School (currently closed) in Burlington, Ontario, and Robert Bateman Public School, Ottawa, Ontario are named for him. He is an Honorary Director of the North American Native Plant Society, and has received numerous honours and awards, including Officer of the Order of Canada and fourteen honorary doctorates from institutions such as the University of Victoria, University of Toronto, Royal Roads University, and McGill University.

At 95, Robert continues a schedule of painting daily and advocating for nature awareness and conservation.

Foundation

Bateman set up a charity in 2012, the Bateman Foundation, to use artwork to promote a connection to nature and the environment.

Personal life

In 1960, Robert Bateman married Suzanne Bowerman, having three children. He married again in 1975, and he and his wife Birgit Freybe Bateman had two children.

In the early 1980s, Bateman and Birgit moved to Salt Spring Island. The couple purchased a home located on Reginald Hill Road, looking out on Fulford Harbour, that was designed by Hank Schubart and originally built for actress Eileen Brennan. In the early 2000s, the Batemans moved from the Reginald Hill house to a house on a lake in Salt Spring.

Honours and awards

  • Life Member, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
  • Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal, 1977
  • Officer of the Order of Canada, 1984
  • Member of Honour Award, World Wildlife Fund, 1985 (presented by the Prince Philip)
  • Society of Animal Artists Award of Excellence 1979, 1980, 1981, 1986, 1990, 2008; Lifetime Achievement 2010
  • Lescarbot Award presented by the Canadian Government, 1992
  • Rachel Carson Award presented by the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Washington D.C., 1996
  • Order of British Columbia, 2001
  • Rungius Medal presented by the National Museum of Wildlife Art, 2001
  • Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, 2002
  • Roland Michener Conservation Award presented by the Canadian Wildlife Federation, 2003
  • Ideas for Life Award, Canadian Environment Awards, 2006
  • Human Rights Defender Award presented by Amnesty International, 2007
  • Niagara Escarpment Lifetime Achievement Award, 2009
  • Royal Canadian Geographical Society Gold Medal, 2013
  • World Ecology Award, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 2015.