The street that is illustrated in this watercolour is a part of a well known district in Calgary.  It is where many artist live and work and a local hangout for Maxwell Bates and his peers. Artists moved into the district because of its low rent. It has been known for some time as the Jazz and Blues district of Calgary. 

Maxwell Bates was born in Calgary, in December of 1906, but exhibited throughout Canada. He originally became an architect to appease his father, also a prominent architect, but also studied art at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art in Calgary from 1926-1927. In 1931, Bates moved to England, where he became friends with the Bloomsbury set and exhibited at the Wertheim Gallery. During World War two, he became a prisoner of war in Thuringia, Germany, this was a pivotal experience in his life and he wrote about his experience in A Wilderness of Days. He eventually settled in Victoria in 1964. He helped to found the Limners, a society of artists who supported and exhibited with one another during the 70’s and 80’s. Galleries such as the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Vancouver Art Gallery have shown retrospective exhibitions of Bates’ work. Bates died on September 15, 1980.

For more on Maxwell Bates see:
http://maxwellbates.net/

Maxwell Bates "Untitled: Street and Buildings," c.1950, watercolour on paper.