Painter, printmaker, art curator and writer Walter William (Wilhelm) Barker was born in Koblenz, Germany, on August 8, 1921. While still a child his family emigrated to the United States where he was raised in Webster Groves, Missouri. Before beginning his academic path he served in the Second World War as a sergeant in the Corps of Military Police in Britain, Normandy, and Northern France, earning three battle stars. On his return, used the G.I. Bill to enroll in art classes at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, studying under Max Beckmann, Horst Janson, and Philip Guston and earning his BFA in 1948. He would then go on to study under Alton Pickens and Henry Hope at the University of Indiana, where he earned his MFA, while simultaneously studying at the University of Iowa and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

In addition to his fine art career he was an art professor and art writer. His first teaching position was at Salem College in 1949. From there he took up a position an instructor of painting at Washington University from 1950 to 1962, and an art instructor at the Brooklyn Museum School from 1962 to 1966, and from 1966 to 1999 at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, where he became Professor Emeritus in 1992. Additionally, he was a Special Correspondant at the St. Louis Dispatch from 1962 to 1978. Barker was a champion of the work and life of Max Beckmann, writing several papers and books on his former mentor throughout his life. He died in Greensboro on May 13, 2004.

Barker's work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, NY; Saint Louis Art Museum, MO; the Kemper Art Museum, MO; the Bates Museum of Art, ME; the Hirshhorn Museum, Wash. D.C.; and the Brooklyn Museum, NY, among others.

Exhibitions:
1948: International Exhibition of Modern Graphic Art, Museum of Modern Art, NY
1960: Portraits, Museum of Modern Art, NY
1962: Virginia Musum of Fine Art
1963: Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
1965: Paintings, Museum of Modern Art, NY
1967: Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis, IN
1970s: Betty Parsons Gallery, NYC

Awards: New Talent USA award, 1956; special citation for art, College Art Association, 1966; distinguished alumnus, Washington University, 1972

Member: College Art Association; Max Beckmann Gesellschaft, Munich, Germany