Realist artist Ken Danby, known for his portraits, sports imagery and landscapes, was born in 1940 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. After showing an early interest in art, he attended the Ontario College of Art from 1958 to 1960 and studied under Jock Macdonald. He was greatly influenced by the American painter Andrew Wyeth, and he worked in egg tempera, watercolour, pencil, ink, silkscreen and lithography. He used photographs to gather visual information and his cool, objective view of his subject is entirely in sync with this medium. His first exhibition was in 1961 at the Pollock Gallery in Toronto and in 1964 he won the Jessie Dow Award at the Spring Exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. In 1965 Danby established his home and studio in Guelph, on the site of an old mill. His first solo exhibition at Gallery Moos, Toronto in 1965 sold out, including a drawing which was acquired by the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. The following year both the Vancouver Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Canada acquired his paintings. Danby was renowned for his sporting images, such as At the Crease, a striking image of a hockey goalkeeper, which was exhibited at Washington's National Portrait Gallery in 1981.

Danby exhibited in many solo and group shows both nationally and internationally, until his death in 2007. He was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy, and is represented in the collections of the Canada Council, Ottawa, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Art Institute of Chicago, among many other private and public collections.