Mhorbairne

I have a painting, quite abstract, entitled 'embryo' with the initials Kb in the corner. It is an oil. I have had this picture for about 40 years and I would assume it was painted in the 50's.

John

If you meant to put the B in lowercase, then it seems to me there's some chance that it signifies something besides initials, or maybe is in a foreign language.

Anyway here is a list I filtered out of the Getty ULAN database of artists with the initials K.B. In addition I removed artists who wouldn't have been working at about the right time period and artists who were identified as being something other than a painter. Of course there's a good probability the artist isn't mentioned here at all.

Badt, Kurt (German painter, art historian, 1890-1973)
Baird, Ken (British artist, born 1930)
Baltgailis, Karlis (Latvian painter, 1893-1979)
Barker, Kit (British artist, 1916-1988)
Barnard, Kate (British artist, born 1939)
Basharov, Kutkuk (Uzbek painter, born 1925)
Baynes, Keith (English painter and draftsman, 1887-1977)
Beaudoin, Kenneth Lawrence (American painter and poet, born 1913)
Bedikian, Krikor (Middle Eastern artist, born 1908)
Bekmuradov, Kulnazar (Turkmen painter, born 1934)
Benjamin, Karl Stanley (American painter, born 1925)
Berge, Kristin (British artist, active 1950-1970)
Blackmore, Kate (British artist, active 1913-1950)
Bol, Kees (Dutch painter, born 1916)
Borneff, Karl Friedrich (German painter and printmaker, born 1930)
Bovin, Karl (Danish painter, 1907-1985)
Boyle, Keith (American painter, born 1930)
Bramhall, Kib (American painter, born 1933)
Brandel, Konstanty (Polish painter and printmaker, 1880-1970)
Brehmer, Klaus Peter (German painter, printmaker, and filmmaker, 1938-1997)
Bridle, Kathleen (British painter, 1897-1989)
Brown, Kathan (American painter, printmaker, and printer, born 1935)
Browne, Kenneth George (British artist, active 1944-1945)
Bruckman, Karel Lodewijk (Dutch painter, born 1903)
Bruneau, Kittie (Canadian artist, born 1929)
Brust, Karl Friedrich (German painter and draftsman, 1897-1960)
Budewell, Kurt (German artist, born 1924)
Buehr, Karl Albert (American painter and printmaker, 1866-1952)
Bunge, Kurt (German artist, 1911-)
Bushnell, Ken (American painter, printmaker, and scenographer, born 1933)
Butler, Kenneth John (American painter, printmaker, and sculptor, born 1937)