Harold Hitchcock was born as Raymond Hitchcock in London, into a family of artists, including famed sporting artist, George Stubbs on his mother’s side. Due to his family’s financial problems, Hitchcock was sent to live with his mother’s parents in Thundersley, Essex, where he began to paint at the age of nine. By the age of 16, Harold was proclaimed to be an artist-child prodigy by the British press

As a young man, Hitchcock made a living doing commercial artwork until he served in World War II, as a non-combatant, engaged in bomb disposal. Essentially self-taught, Harold Hitchcock continue to develop his style as he painted. The works of Claude Lorrain and J.M.W. Turner inspired him greatly. In 1947, Hitchcock had his first one-man exhibition at the International Art Centre. This event launched his career as an artist, and he gave up his commercial work to concentrate on his own painting full-time.

He joined the Subud Brotherhood in 1960 and largely painted enlightened visionary compositions in watercolor, gouache, and oil thereafter. These spiritual “awakenings”, captured on canvas by Hitchcock, came to the attention of the Duke of Bedford, who became something of a patron, giving the artist Harold a solo exhibition at his home: Woburn Abbey. As major exhibitions followed, his audience grew internationally. He was honored in 1984 with a lifetime retrospective show at the Royal Society of Artists in London.