John Minton (artist)

Francis John Minton (25 December 1917 – 20 January 1957) was an English painter, illustrator, stage designer and teacher

Quotes

• We're all awash in a sea of blood, and the least we can do is wave to each other.
  • this inspired the title of the Van der Graaf Generator album The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other.
• Every living person has certain feelings about the world around him. It is these feelings, common to all men, which are the raw materials of the artist's inspiration. This he must 'translate', into the structure of an art form, whether music, poetry or painting. The problem of the painter is this 'translation'; that is, he has to create some arrangement of shape, line and colour which convey the idea or the emotion which moved him to paint this particular picture.
  • "Seven Artists Tell why they Paint", Picture Post, 12 March 1949. p. 13

About Minton

• No one mirrors his age clearer than the artist, for here is the living moment made concrete, the particular made general.
  • John Minton A selective retrospective Exh. cat. Oriel Davies Gallery , Newtown, Wales 1994 quoted in Insights by Liz Rideal, National Portrait Gallery, London 2005 ISBN 1855143631