Award-winning Canadian artist and environmentalist Robert Bateman wrapped up his three-day visit to U of T with a lecture on January 27 at the Isabel Bader Theatre called “A Memoir in Pictures.” The Victoria College grad, famous for his photorealistic paintings of animals and nature, visited the university to address Victoria College. His final lecture was open to the public and drew almost 200 people.
Bateman’s lecture included a slide show of his artwork and pictures of people and landscapes that inspired his work. He chose to study geography at U of T, he said, so that he could attend field trips with his class and paint the landscapes. He went on to display different chapters in his life through pictures of the places he has visited, including several trips to the Arctic and a 1957 driving adventure around the world in a Land Rover.
Bateman talked about his life and his love of nature, and how he has seen the world change. When he was in Africa, he said, he was able to paint while immersing himself in a different culture and environment, but felt that a similar trip would be impossible today because civil wars rage across the continent.
Bateman said he was frustrated that contemporary society devalues nature. He has painted nature scenes only to discover that they have later become construction sites.
“If I painted something, it was the kiss of death,” he said. “They literally paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”
