Alistair Grant was born on June 3rd 1925 in West Kensington, London. He studied at Birmingham College of Art from 1941-43 where he was taught still-life drawing and painting by Fleetwood-Walker. He was then conscripted into the Royal Air Force and trained as Aircrew flying Wellingtons and then Liberators. After The War he was accepted to the Royal College of Art.
During his lifetime as a painter, printmaker, and Professor, Grant was an integral part of the artistic and printmaking life in London. For thirty-five years Alistair Grant and printmaking at the Royal College of Art in London were indivisible. Grant was an inspirational teacher and artist who taught many of his peers.