Edward Ardizzone was a painter and illustrator.

He was born on 16 October 1900, in Haiphong, Tonkin in French Indo-China. In 1905 he moved to England and was brought up by grandparents, while his father worked abroad.

Ardizzone started his career as a book illustrator in the early 1930s. At the beginning of the Second World War he was appointed an Official War Artist, on the recommendation of the art critic Kenneth Clark. During this time he created over 300 paintings of the hardships of civilian life, travelling across Europe depicting the horrors of the war.

On return to England, he continued his career as both an illustrator and an artist, exhibiting widely. He died on 8 November 1979.