Artist and naturalist Robert Bateman, whose work is currently on display at the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. (Norm Lightfoot/Courtesy Robert Bateman)

The Russians are celebrating iconic Canadian wildlife artist and naturalist Robert Bateman with a rare, four-city Russian retrospective, but organizers be warned.

“If people want to either show my art or have me give a lecture, they’re in for getting a bit of a message,” the lifelong environmentalist cautions, laughing, before launching into one his self-described “rants” about the wonders of the natural world and the myriad ways we are destroying it.

“I hope [my paintings] are somewhat thought-provoking. Russia and most places outside the western world have not been conscious enough to what we’re doing [to the planet].”

The famed Canadian is traveling to St. Petersburg for a short, whirlwind visit to unveil the retrospective Robert Bateman in Russia, which opens at the State Russian Museum Oct. 8. Featuring about 50 pieces and billed by organizers as Russia’s first major wildlife art show, the exhibit is an honour, the 79-year-old Bateman acknowledges. The Toronto-born artist, now based on Salt Spring Island in B.C., talked to CBC News about the upcoming show, as he made last-minute preparations for the trip.

Carmanah Contrast, 40" x 45", acrylic on canvas (1989) (Courtesy Robert Bateman)

Though Russian curators selected the paintings featured in the four-city retrospective, Bateman admits he slanted his offerings to animals and topics he felt Russians would be familiar with, as well as his more serious, sometimes darker-themed environmental works.

“The majority of my show, I hasten to add, is obviously [about] what’s wonderful about nature. It’s not all doom and gloom. Why bother protecting it if it’s not wonderful?” he says.

Running in St. Petersburg until January, the show moves to the Tula Museum of Art, the Ivanovo Regional Art Museum and ends next August at Moscow’s Tsarytsyno Museum.

Russian Brown Bear, 48" x 72", acrylic on canvas (2009) (Courtesy Robert Bateman)

Bateman has included three new works in the show, including the large canvas Russian Brown Bear, an imposing portrait of a brown bear he describes as “a composite bear I got from real bears I’d seen in Alaska,” zoos and elsewhere.

“It turns and gives you a dirty look as it’s about to step out of the picture.”

Sea Otters, 24" x 48", acrylic on board (2009) (Courtesy Robert Bateman)

Bateman has included in the Russian catalogue his recent piece Sea Otters, which depicts an amusing bevy of the marine mammals lounging and floating along.

The pursuit of lucrative sea otter pelts was one of the reasons Russians made the trek across to the North American continent, Bateman points out.

“I think they’re terrific,” Bateman says of the furry, genial little creatures, which were once in danger of extinction, but whose population has rebounded to a much healthier number thanks to conservation efforts.

“It’s always been a special creature for me to go and seek. We had terrific luck with them last summer on a fishing trip in southwest Alaska. I got tons of photos and sketches.”

Vancouver Island Elegy, 42" x 46 1/2", acrylic on canvas (1989) (Courtesy Robert Bateman)

Though Bateman might be best known for his depictions of animals, the Russian retrospective also features other subjects, including landscapes, social commentary works and people.

“I regularly paint things with human beings or simple landscapes, because I don’t think that I’m imprisoned by any genre really,” he says, noting that he started out painting in other artistic styles before focusing on realism.

“I had abstract paintings, and I was a Group of Seven groupie for awhile, and a cubist and so on. I have worked in other styles, but I feel [they] don’t really depict what is important in nature, and that is particularity. You can’t do that if you’re abstracting or being too loose with things. Particularity is extremely important. Realism, or as close to realism as possible, is the only style that can show what’s important about nature.”

Driftnet: Pacific White-sided Dolphin and Lysan Albatross, 36" x 36", acrylic (1993) (Courtesy Robert Bateman)

Bateman says that Driftnet — Pacific White-sided Dolphin and Lysan Albatross “is the strongest environmental piece” in the show. The canvas shows a dead dolphin and albatross — his lament for the bycatch that gets trapped in commercial nets alongside the targeted fish.

“I actually mounted a real driftnet over the top of the canvas,” Bateman said of this ominous painting. This was among the works that appeared at the well-received McMichael Canadian Art Collection retrospective in 2007 that inspired the Russian show.

“There’s a very powerful message there, because I consider it the main problem facing the planet, humanity and all the creatures living on the planet: we’ve industrialized nature.”

Gentoo Penguins & Whale Bones, 36" x 36", acrylic on canvas (1979) (Courtesy Robert Bateman)

A Bateman favourite in the Russian retrospective is Gentoo Penguins & Whale Bones, in which two rotund birds pose on a frozen Antarctic beach near an abandoned former whaling station. They are surrounded by a beautiful and tragic jumble of bones that, according to Bateman, looks "like Henry Moore sculptures.”

Castor Canadensis, 36" x 36", acrylic on canvas (2002) (Courtesy Robert Bateman)

Another environmentally themed work is Castor Canadensis, in which Bateman depicts “a very frightened and angry beaver” standing in the middle of a highway.

“It could be about to get run over by a big machine, which is a symbol of what’s happening to wildlife in Canada.”

Wildlife Images, 40" x 45", acrylic on canvas (1989) (Courtesy Robert Bateman)

Over his career, Bateman has weathered criticism, particularly from detractors who diminish his oeuvre as simple illustration not worthy of art museums. The painter remains sanguine about the whole debate.

“The least important topic facing the planet is whether the Art Gallery of Ontario or the National Gallery of Canada has major shows of wildlife art,” he says.

“I know where the — I call them the priesthood — is coming from. I understand it and see their point of view. We have people in our own family who consider Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro too bucolic,” he laughs.

“I understand [my critics]. I can have conversations with them. In fact, I kind of enjoy a little bit of sparring and repartee, but my feelings aren’t hurt.”

Bateman has also had to deal with criticism of his decision to sell prints of his original works.

“I’ve been lambasted, including on CBC-TV, in the Globe and Mail, coast to coast on a CTV morning show years ago,” he recalls.

In today’s world, however, where original paintings might be reproduced on rare wine bottles and a graffiti provocateur like Banksy is considered an artist of significance, this kind of disapproval appears to have faded into the background.

“Nobody really seems to care anymore. They cared about 10 years ago, but they don’t seem to care anymore,” Bateman said. “I’ve been doing prints since 1978. I probably wouldn’t [have had] shows in the Smithsonian, the McMichael, anywhere if prints hadn’t been part of spreading my reputation,” he said.

“It’s like saying Glenn Gould should not have made recordings. Well, he didn’t do concerts for the last decade or so of his life, so you would have had to go to Glenn Gould’s home if you wanted to listen to Glenn Gould’s piano music. But thank goodness he did.”

Jessica Wong writes about the arts for CBCNews.ca.