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 ==