Maxwell Bates (Calgary, Alberta, 1906 – Victoria, British Columbia, 1980) was a Canadian expressionist painter who also worked as an architect. Although he is often remembered for his architectural career, his paintings deserve attention for their expressionist character and for the personal memories that run through both his canvases and his writing.
He began painting at a young age; one of his works, In the Kitchen, dates from when he was fifteen. He worked in his father's architectural firm, and studied painting in Calgary from 1926 to 1927 with Lars Jonson Haukaness. In 1931 he moved to England, where he earned a living as a door-to-door vacuum salesman while exhibiting at the Wertheim Gallery and mixing with young artists such as Barbara Hepworth and Victor Pasmore.
During the Second World War, serving in the British Territorial Army, he was captured in France and spent five years as a prisoner of war in Thuringia. That experience is recounted in his 1978 book A Wilderness of Days. After returning to Canada in 1946 he again worked with his father, and in 1962 he moved to Victoria.
His work was shown in galleries around the world, and retrospectives were held in Winnipeg, Vancouver and Victoria. As an architect, his most notable project was St. Mary's Cathedral in Calgary. In 1980 he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.