Kenneth Forbes

Kenneth Keith Forbes (July 4, 1892 – February 25, 1980) was a portrait and landscape painter. His painting entitled Canadian Artillery in action is on display at the Canadian War Museum.

Life Born in Toronto, Ontario, Forbes was the son of John Colin Forbes, R.C.A. (1846–1925) a distinguished portraitist who painted such notable figures as William Gladstone, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and Sir Wilfrid Laurier. John Forbes' penultimate commission was the portraits of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra which were destroyed in the 1952 fire in the Parliamentary Library in Ottawa.

Kenneth Forbes studied first at the Newlyn School, Cornwall with Stanhope Forbes, where he won a four-year scholarship to the Hospitalfield House school, Arbroath, Scotland. He won a Chase Scholarship in London with a portrait sketch, and at 19 had a portrait accepted for exhibition at the Royal Academy. In all, twelve of Kenneth Forbes portraits were exhibited at the Royal Academy.

Forbes enlisted in the 10th "Pals" Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers in 1914 and was later commissioned from the ranks. He was wounded in action and gassed. Forbes ended his combat service as second in command of the 32nd Battalion, Machine Gun Corps. After being transferred to Lord Beaverbrook's Canadian War Memorials Fund in 1918, Forbes became an official Canadian war artist. Forbes was twice Mentioned in Dispatches for his service.

According to a Toronto newspaper report from April 1918, Forbes had recently received a commission from Lord Beaverbrook (Max Aitken) to paint a series of official war pictures at the front. In 1972 he had a book published, Great Art to the Grotesque.

Kenneth Forbes died in Toronto on February 25, 1980.

Works Title/subject Date createdMedium The Defence of Sanctuary Wood circa 1917 Oil on canvas Corporal William Metcalf V.C. circa 1918 Oil on canvas Canadian Artillery in Action circa 1918 Oil on canvas Captain Melville Millar circa 1932 (Prescott Prize) Oil on canvas The Connoisseur (Gordon Roy Conn) 1935 Oil on canvas My Wife and Velazquez circa 1939 (Prescott Prize) Oil on canvas George Black 1934 Oil on canvas James Langstaff Bowman circa 1935 Oil on canvas Pierre-François Casgrain circa 1940 Oil on canvas James Allison Glen circa 1945 Oil on canvas Gaspard Fauteux 1946 Oil on canvas Robert Borden 1947 Oil on canvas Louis-René Beaudoin 1960 Oil on canvas Marcel Lambert 1963 Oil on canvas Richard Bedford Bennett 1962 Oil on canvas