Barker was born in London on 1916, the younger brother of the poet George Barker. In 1948 he married the writer Ilse Gross (1921–2006), who wrote under the pen name Katherine Talbot.
Barker served in the British Army from 1942 to 1945.
Barker lived in Cornwall from 1947 to 1948, where he and Ilse were involved with the artists' colony in St Ives.
In 1949 Kit and Ilse Barker they travelled to the USA where Kit lectured at Skidmore College in New York. Kit later taught with Hassel Smith, Elmer Bischoff and David Park at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco (1951–1952). During their time in the USA, Kit and Ilse Barker stayed at Yaddo artists' community in Saratoga Springs, New York.
From 1953 Barker lived on Bexley hill, Sussex and travelled extensively in Europe and the US.
Kit and Ilse Barker had one son, Thomas (born 1962).
Kit Barker died in West Sussex in 1988.
Barker was a self-taught artist. His influences included the surrealists – he exhibited some surrelaist paintings.
His work is found in private collections in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Italy, South Africa, Sweden, the United States and Germany.
Barkers works have been purchased by:
Olsen Foundation, USContemporary Art Society, LondonMagdalen, Nuffield, New and Pembroke Colleges, OxfordMemorial Art Gallery, Rochester NY, USATowner Art Gallery, Eastbourne, UKBradford City Art GalleryWest Riding of Yorkshire Education CommitteeNottingham Training CollegeAberdeen Art GalleryNuffield Foundation Pictures for Hospitals FundIsle of Wight Health Authority Pictures for HospitalsArts Council of Great Britain1950 Weyhe Gallery, New York1951 Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco1951 St. Louis Artists' Guild, St Louis1957 Hanover Gallery, London1959 Waddington Galleries, London1960 Waddington Galleries, Montreal1961 Waddington Galleries, London1964 Waddington Galleries, London1965 Waddington Galleries, Montreal1966 Waddington Galleries, London1967 Waddington Galleries, Montreal1970 Arthur Tooth & Sons, London1971 Villiers Art Gallery, Sydney, Australia1972 Toorak Gallery, Melbourne, Australia1972 Arthur Tooth & Sons, London1978 Christ's Hospital Arts Centre, Horsham, Sussex1981 The New Arts Centre, London1988 Newburg Street Gallery, London2001 University College Chichester, Otter Gallery, Sussex2005 The Canon Gallery Petworth, SussexBarker had regular one man exhibitions throughout the 1960s and 1970s at: The David Paul Gallery, Chichester, Sussex; Reid Gallery, Guildford, Surrey and Century Galleries, Henley on Thames.
1948 The Crypt Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall1948 Downings Bookshop, St Ives, Cornwall1948 St George's Gallery, London1949 Durlacher Gallery, New York, NY1951 Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY1951 Philadelphia Art Alliance, PA1952 Art Institute of Chicago, IL (Drawings from 12 countries)1954 Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (Eight Painters)1957 John Moores Exhibition, Liverpool1959 Contemporary Art Society, London (Recent Acquisitions)1960 Irish Exhibition of Living Art1960 Birmingham City Art Gallery (Contemporary British Painters)1960 International Gallery, Chicago, IL1961 Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY (Two Painters)1962 Festival of Arts, Battle, Sussex1967 Worthing Municipal Art Gallery, Sussex (Two Painters)1969 Camden Arts Centre, London (English Traditional Landscape)1973 Paintings in Hospitals, London1974 Festival of the City of London, London1976 Madden Gallery, London1981 New Arts Centre, London1985 Parkin Gallery, London (Cornwall 1925 -1975)1987 Questra Gallery, Kingston upon Thames, SU1990 Birch and Conran Gallery, LondonFrost and Reed [Venture] prints, 'Marsh Brasses & Inner Harbour, Concarneau 1964.Winter At Gurnard's Head, poem poster with David Wright MidNAG 1979.Curlew, poem poster with Leslie Norris Armstrong poem poster 1969.North Haven, poem poster with Elizabeth Bishop Lord John Press 1979.