Joachim John was born in Děčín (now in the Czech Republic) in 1933. After training as a chemical plant worker, he studied art education in Greifswald from 1955 to 1959. From 1963 to 1965, he was a master student under Hans Theo Richter at the Academy of Arts of the GDR. From 1966 onwards, he worked as a freelance artist. In 1986, he became a member of the Academy of Arts of the GDR, and in 1990 he took up a visiting professorship in Kassel. From 1991 to 1993, he was Secretary of the Visual Arts Section of the Academy of Arts in Berlin and was involved in the merger of the two Berlin academies. From 1977 onwards, he lived and worked in Frauenmark near Schwerin. He died in Neu Frauenmark in 2018.