John Christoforou began to paint in earnest following the Second World War and exhibited first gouaches and drawings in 1949 and then oils in 1950-51. In the following years he spent increasing amounts of time in the south of France before moving to Paris in 1957. Subsequently he divided his time between France and England subsequently.

Born in 1921 in London his family moved to Athens nine years later where Christoforou received his artistic training at the Athens. His work often betrays the influence of Byzantine art and increasingly concentrated uhuman faces distorted by emotions.

He exhibited widely in London, Paris and America including at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1958 and the Tate Gallery in 1958.