Bernard Cheese was born in Sydenham, south east London and attended the Royal College of Art from 1947-50, where Edwin La Dell persuaded him to make lithographs. He taught printmaking at St Martin's School of Art, Goldsmith's College and Central School of Art and Design.
He married artist Sheila Robinson and they lived near Great Bardfield in the 1950s, where they developed strong friendships with Edward Bawden and Michael Rothenstein. He later remarried and moved to Stistead, Essex in 1958.
Cheese developed a close working relationship with Michael Rothenstein and in the mid to late 1960s both artists experimented in utilising photographic imagery in their respective prints.