Bates studied with Joseph Pearson and Daniel Garber at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1915 to 1921; the Pennsylvania Academy awarded him a Cresson Travelling Scholarship in 1920. Bates and the sculptress, Gladys Edgerly, were married in 1923.
Bates was primarily a painter of the Connecticut landscape. His works are romantic and nostalgic, often featuring ancient or dead trees. An abandoned orchard behind his home in Mystic provided him with his themes, especially still life compositions arranged from remnants of the orchard. However, he also often accompanied Francis Speight on painting excursions to the impoverished industrial towns along Pennsylvania's Schulykill River.
The Grand Central Galleries, New York, represented the artist; his 1940 exhibition there featured paintings reflecting the devastation to New England of the hurricane of 1938. The Lyman Allyn Museum, New London, Connecticut presented an exhibition of Bates work in 1952. Bates was a founding member of the Mystic Art Association, as was Robert Brackman. Bates book on Brackman, Brackman: His Art and Teaching was published in 1973.