Born in 1920, Adrian Heath educated at Bryanston School. In 1938, he studied art under Stanhope Forbes at Newlyn. In 1939 and 1945–47, he attended the Slade School of Art. He served in the RAF as a tail gunner in Lancaster bombers in World War II, but spent almost the entire war as a prisoner of war at Stalag 383. During the Second World War, Heath met Terry Frost in a Bavarian prisoner-of-war camp and it was there that Heath inspired Frost to paint. After the war, Heath spent six months with Frost in St. Ives. Heath was to become the main link between the St. Ives School and the London based ‘ Constructionists’ (Mary and Kenneth Martin, Victor Pasmore and Anthony Hill). His work is represented in many public collections, not least the Tate Gallery, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Whitworth Gallery, Manchester; and the Hirschhorn Museum, Washington.