Elizabeth Keith was born in Scotland and made her first trip to Japan in 1915. What was initially intended to be a short visit of a few months to see her sister, turned into a stay of almost nine years. Basing herself in Tokyo, she travelled extensively, including visiting China, Korea and the Philippines - often visiting remote or inaccessible places to which few foreigners would venture and sketch local scenes and customs. On her return from a trip in 1919 she exhibited a group of watercolours at the Mitsukoshi department store where she met the visionary publisher Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962). Clearly impressed with her work, he encouraged her to have her watercolours made into woodblock prints. Watanabe went on to publish over sixty Keith woodblock prints over the years 1919 to 1936.
During her lifetime her prints were acquired by institutions including The British Museum, the Musée Guimet, Paris, the Honolulu Academy of Arts and the Museum of Art at the University of Oregon. In 1937 a member of the Japanese Imperial Household acquired a print at a sell-out exhibition of fifty-seven prints at the Daimaru Department Store, Kyoto. Then in 1937 the Beaux Arts Gallery in London held an exhibition of her work, and seven works were acquired by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother for the Royal Collection.