Born on Christmas day in 1917, Minton was a painter of figures, townscapes and landscapes in oils and watercolours; book illustrator; graphic artist; theatrical designer and member of the famous Minton Ceramics family. Minton studied at St John's Wood School of Art from 1935-38 and later went on to teach at Camberwell School of Art (1943-1946) and at the Royal College of Art (1948 to 1957).
In 1940 Minton had registered as a conscientious objector but in 1941 entered the Pioneer Corps. In 1943 he was released from the army and for the next three years shared a studio with the two Roberts, MacBryde and Colquhoun at 77 Bedford Gardens. Minton at varying times lived and worked with the two Roberts, Keith Vaughan and Michael Ayrton with whom he had visited Les Beaux in Provence in 1939. Sharing the same building were Jankel Adler the painter and John Wyndham the writer. During this period the influence of his contemporaries such as Graham Sutherland gave way to a Picasso-inspired stylisation.
Minton had his first solo exhibition at Roland, Browse and Delbanco in London in 1945 but later moved to the Lefevre Gallery, holding solo exhibitions in 1945, 1949, 1950, 1953 and 1956. He exhibited regularly at the RA, RBA and LG, becoming a member in 1949 and an RBA in 1950 and also exhibited in New York from 1948.
The artist's eclectic style combined elements of French and British Neo-Romanticism. His main theme, partly homoerotic, was the young male figure in emotionally charged settings. Five phases in his work have been identified, ranging from landscapes reminiscent of those of Samuel Palmer, to scenes of urban decay. In the post-war years he was attracted to exotic places in search of new subjects.
A key figure of the 1940's English Neo-Romantics and a celebrity of London's bohemia, he was known for his profligate generosity and sharp wit. During the 1940s and early 1950s he become a central figure within Soho, an intimate friend of, among many others Jeffrey Bernard, Lucian Freud and the poet W.S. Graham.
Although Minton was dedicated to painting, his reputation depended largely on his skill as an illustrator, for example the Corsican illustrations for Time Was Away by Alan Ross (London, 1948). A product of his age, Minton was charismatic, charming and generous but also melancholic and self-destructive.