Kenneth Forbes

Kenneth Forbes

Kenneth Keith Forbes (July 4, 1892 – 1980) was a Canadian landscape and portrait painter.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Forbes was the son of John Colin Forbes (1846–1925) also an artist. The younger Forbes had obtained a scholarship at the Hospital Field Art School, Arbroath, Scotland. He won the Chase Scholarship in London with a portrait sketch.

Forbes enlisted in London in 1914 and served during World War I with the 10th Royal Fusiliers as a Captain. He was a war artist and served in the Canadian Army until 1959.

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 1967, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for his contributions to the arts as a landscape and portrait painter".

He is best known for his painting entitled Canadian Artillery in action on display at the Canadian War Museum.