John Minton was born at Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire on 25 December 1917, the son of a solicitor. He was educated at Northcliffe House, Bognor Regis, and at Reading School, and then studied in London, under Patrick Millard and Kenneth Martin at St John's Wood School of Art (1935-38). During his time there he met Michael Ayrton who, though several years his junior, encouraged him to absorb the influence of the French Neo-Romantics both from books and from visits to Paris and Les Baux in Provence (1938-39). These experiences first bore fruit in collaborations with Ayrton, in designs for John Gielgud's production of Macbeth, and in a joint show at the Leicester Galleries (both 1942).
Though he had considered himself a conscientious objector at the outbreak of the Second World War, he entered the Pioneer Corps in 1941, and was commissioned for a short time two years later, being released on medical grounds. On his return to London, he shared a studio with Scottish painters Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde, and taught illustration at Camberwell School of Art (1943-46).
He then shared a studio with Keith Vaughan (1946-52) and taught at the Central School of Art (1946-48) and the Royal College of Art (1948-57).
During the late 1940s, Minton synthesised the influence of contemporary French and British painters, and such Romantic artists as Samuel Palmer, to form his mature style. He then established himself as a leading Neo-Romantic figure with emotionally charged paintings, often of young men in landscape settings, which he exhibited in regular solo shows at the Lefevre Gallery (from 1945), and also at the Royal Academy (from
1949). By the end of the decade, he was known as a varied designer as well as painter, and especially as the illustrator of such notable volumes as an English edition of Alain-Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes (1947) and Alan Ross's travel book on Corsica, Time Was Away 1948). These projects marked his fascination with isolated and exotic terrains and, travelling extensively in search of new subjects, he visited Spain (1948 and 1954), the West Indies (1950) and Morocco (1952).
After 1950, Minton felt increasingly at odds with international fashions in modern art, arguing with Francis Bacon and criticising the critic David Sylvester. He found compensation in his celebrated position at the centre of bohemian London and, more than ever living for the moment, frequented Soho's pubs and clubs. The last part of his working life was again devoted to designs for the stage, including Don Juan and The Death of Satan, two plays by Ronald Duncan produced in 1956 at the Royal Court. Ill at ease with his homosexuality, he made two attempts to take his own life and finally committed suicide through an overdose of drugs on 20 September 1957. The Arts Council organised a memorial exhibition of his work during the following year. His work is represented in numerous public collections, including the Tate Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Fitzwilliam Museum.
Further reading: Frances Spalding, Dance till the Stars Come Down: A Biography of John Minton, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1991
