Max Maynard
Max Maynard,View from King George Terrace, watercolour. Gift of the Estate of Dr. Michael Collard Williams. U001.11.658Max Maynard was born in Solapuram India, in 1903. He and his family (his parents and seven brothers and sisters) moved to England for a short time before settling in Victoria in 1912. Maynard’s intellectual and artistic impetus occurred while attending Victoria High School with other young talents such as Jack Shadbolt, Roy Daniells, Fred Brand and Ira Dilworth. This group called themselves “The Fossils” and met regularly to discuss contemporary issues on literature, music and art. Upon graduation from Victoria High, Maynard attended teacher’s college. He later taught, intermittently while pursuing studies at Victoria College, at Lampson Street Elementary school until 1938. He gained a reputation as an inspiring and avant-garde teacher as he encouraged his students to think in new and creative ways. Maynard career flourished further after he completed a BA at the University of British Columbia. He was appointed to the Vancouver Art Gallery’s buying committee and later served as the secretary-manager. He taught English first at the University of Southern California and then at the University of New Hampshire until 1973. Upon his retirement from teaching, he began to focus on painting. He travelled to England, Mexico, and Alaska, and produced series’ of landscape paintings depicting his reconnaissance of those places. In 1978, he returned permanently to Victoria. Maynard drew artistic inspiration from his contemporaries, Emily Carr and the group of seven, in the way they interpreted and depicted landscape with a personalized perspective.
