Years before the term "visual literacy" came to light in 1969 (Felten, 2008; Reis, 2013), British designer and art educator, Kurt Rowland, wrote, illustrated, and meticulously designed a series of art education textbooks called "Looking and Seeing." The intent was to teach visual awareness in a way that increased the capacity for visual understanding and thinking. We explore Rowland's notion of a "grammar of vision," as an idea ahead of the times, explicating its features, and appraising the import and originality of his pedagogy. His lessons on "visual grammar" were intended to provide a way to teach students how to decipher and analyze any and all visual information. We argue that Rowland has been unduly overlooked by the academic community and is worthy of assessment and further study. Now, in an educational climate that emphasizes 21st-century skills, attention to visual literacy and critical thinking are essential. This article examines the ways in which Rowland's ideas of a visual education are relevant today, in particular with links to the National Core Arts Standards (NCAS) "responding" and "connecting."