My father, John Walker, who has died aged 84, was an art historian and art critic who wrote more than 15 books on modern and contemporary art, including Art and Outrage: Provocation, Controversy and the Visual Arts (1999) and Art in the Age of Mass Media (2001).
He was a regular contributor to art magazines and journals over the years, with that work focused mainly on the relationship between art and mass media. He was particularly interested in the impact of Vincent van Gogh, John Latham and the art collector Charles Saatchi.
John was born in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, to Constance (nee Beale), a homemaker, and Albert Walker, a fish filleter at the local docks who went on to set up his own fish business. After John finished at Wintringham grammar school in Grimsby, in 1956 he studied at the University of Durham’s Department of Fine Art in Newcastle upon Tyne, staying on to do an MA after his degree and completing it in 1961.
After graduation he taught at Sunderland College of Art before becoming an art librarian in London at Camden Public Libraries (1966-70) and at Hornsey College of Art library (1970-73). He then spent two years as a freelance writer and artist before taking on a job as a part-time art history lecturer at West Surrey College of Art (1975-81).
Moving on to become a full-time senior lecturer at Middlesex Polytechnic (now Middlesex University London), he was appointed a full-time senior lecturer there in 1992, then reader in art and design history from 1993 until his retirement in 1999.
Afterwards John continued as a freelance art critic and art historian, and also resumed his painting in 2005. Over the years he wrote for many publications, including Art Monthly, Art Review and Art & Criticism.
John was also a talented painter; he held several solo exhibitions of his work, including most recently at the View gallery, Thames Ditton (2006), the Pitt studio and gallery, Worcester (2007), and Maison Deco, Esher (2009). His works appear in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum and are also held by many private individuals.
John was a kind and generous man, as well as a true scholar and a passionate advocate for the arts.
His 1962 marriage to my mother, Margaret (nee Clark), ended in divorce in 1973. He is survived by me and a granddaughter, Olivia.
