Kenneth Rowntree was born in 1915 and studied at the Ruskin School of Art and then The Slade onder Schwabe. His first solo show was at the Leicester Galleries in 1946 and subsequently at the Zwemmer. His work is in numerous public collections including the Tate and the V&A. He taught at the Ruskin School and RCA and was Professor of Fine Art at Newcastle University. In 1959 he was awarded the Ford Foundation Grant to the US. Rowntree died in 1997.