 Guthrie was born in Feltham in Middlesex and attended the Slade School of Art between 1921 and 1923, before attending the Royal Academy Schools for three years.In 1927 she married the artist Robin Guthrie and moved to America with him in 1931 when he became a director of the Boston School of Fine Art.In 1932, while in Boston, Kathleen Guthrie had the first solo exhibition of her career with works shown at the Grace Horne Gallery in that city.