Renowned artist Bateman to speak at NMWA

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

By Henry Sweets

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Internationally-acclaimed artist Robert Bateman has been painting wildlife since the 1960s. He is considered one of the most influential painters in his field by critics and contemporaries. Bateman will lecture at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the National Museum of Wildlife Art about his worldview on art and ecology and how the two work together.

Longtime friend and peer David Wagner will introduce Bateman at the lecture. Wagner has just had published “American Wildlife Art,” a definitive book on the subject. He said that what sets Bateman apart from other wildlife artists is not just his convincing abilities as an artist, but the way his ecological philosophies speak through his art.
“He’s someone with a passion, and the ability to express that passion artistically in powerful ways,” Wagner said.

Wagner, who curated the show, said it covers the “breadth and depth” of Bateman’s career – from abstract drawings made as a teen to his current standing as a master painter and avid conservationist. The collection will reflect the diversity of subject matter, geography and media that Bateman utilizes in his paintings.

The show opens in conjunction with “Picasso’s Park: Modernism Meets Natural History” and “Ritual Abstractions: the indigenous art of Australia and New Guinea,” which are both intriguing collections. The reception for all three shows, the National Museum of Wildlife Art’s annual summer exhibition reception, begins at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday with Bateman’s lecture following. Both events will be at the National Museum of Wildlife Art.

Also, Bateman will be the guest instructor at Family Fun Days at the museum at 2 p.m. today, June 9, and Ritual Abstractions curator Anne McDougal will be presenting Art Alive at 12:05 today at the museum.

Courtesy Robert M. Bateman, Boshkung, Inc
Robert Bateman “Mossy Branches - Spotted Owl," 1989.

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