John A. Walker

Who is John A. Walker?

John A. Walker is a British art critic and historian who has written over 15 books on modern and contemporary art with an emphasis on mass media. He has also written on design history methodology. Walker's books include Art since Pop, Design history and the history of design with Judy Attfield, John Latham: The Incidental Person - His Art and Ideas, Cultural Offensive: America's Impact on British Art since 1945, Art & Outrage, Supercollector: A Critique of Charles Saatchi with Rita Hatton, Left Shift: Radical Art in 1970s Britain, Art in the Age of Mass Media, Art and Celebrity, and Firefighters in Art and Media: A Pictorial History.

Walker was a Reader in Art and Design History at Middlesex University near London until retiring in 1999. He was trained as a painter at Newcastle upon Tyne.

With regard to John Latham: The Incidental Person - His Art and Ideas, John A. Walker wrote a contentious article on Artnet.com after John Latham's death. In it, Walker revealed that there was a legal conflict with Latham concerning the book. The article is titled "The Perils of Publishing". He also released legal letters concerning the conflict, in which he is quoted: "Latham acts as if he is the commissioner or patron of the book rather than its subject matter... He tries to treat me like a slave whose function is to write down exactly what he dictates. This is not on…".