Oliver Percival Kilbourn (6 October 1904 – April 1993) was a British coal miner, painter, and founding member of the Ashington Group.
After attending elementary school, he began working as a miner at the Duke pit, Ashington, three days after his thirteenth birthday.
William Feaver writes that after the Duke pit closed, "Kilbourn moved to the nearby Ellington collier, where he became a coalface drawer aged twenty-four.
He remained at Ellington for the rest of his working life, becoming a salvage drawer during the Second World War and a wasteman, responsible for the maintenance of the mine's airways."
"[3]Starting around the mid-1920s, Kilbourn "attended tutorial class organized by the Ashington Miners' Union and then the WEA and it was through this route that he enrolled on Robert Lyon's art appreciation course in October 1934.
"[4] 'My Life as a Pitman' became an exhibition in 1977 and was considered as a "North Country counterpart to the colourful rural Chinese scenes.
Kilbourn's article consists of a brief history of 14th & 15th century, Dutch school, French as well as Impressionist art and their relationship with the use of color, shading, and what they aimed to depict.
But I think we will not fully understand the modern movement unless we also realize that the condition of life around us—scientific, economic and domestic—all tend to influence the work of the artist.