John Loxton was born in Adelaide and studied at Swinburne Technical College and Australian National Gallery Art School. He was art critic for the Melbourne Argus from 1947 to 1948. Loxton travelled through Europe for the next two years and during this time exhibited at the Royal Academy and held an exhibition at the Royal Watercolour Society Galleries in London. On his return, Loxton divided his time between Australia and New Zealand producing numerous landscapes of both countries.