Kenneth Green (4)

Kenneth Green (25 February 1905, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire — 1986) was a British visual artist, painter, portraitist, stage designer, and educator. He grew up in Suffolk and studied at Christ's Hospital school, later attending the Slade School of Fine Art (between 1922 and 1924) on a scholarship, where Green learned with Henry Tonks (1862—1937). Kenneth got his first commission to paint a portrait at the University of Cambridge as a student; subsequently, Green did many notable portraits, including composer Benjamin Britten, poet Cecil Day Lewis, and actress Sybil Thorndike. Ken Green also painted landscapes and engraved on wood. Between 1935 and 1938, Green worked as a stage designer at Glyndebourne Festival Opera before joining the faculty at Wellington College, where he served as art director from 1938 to 1945. Kenneth continued working on opera stage designs and costumes, involved in Sadler's Wells production of Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte in 1944 and Britten's Peter Grimes in 1945. In later years, he also collaborated with the Holland Festival and Finnish National Opera Studio in Helsinki.