Christopher Finch was born on the island of Guernsey, in the English Channel.  After studying painting at Chelsea Art School in London, and two years in Paris, he began to write about the contemporary art scene for magazines ranging from Art & Artists and Art International to the British edition of Vogue.  He also wrote many catalogue essays for London galleries and organizations such as the Arts Council of Great Britain.  Recognized for his writings about British Pop artists such as David Hockney and Richard Hamilton, he later also wrote about American artists including Claes Oldenburg, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Jim Dine, and Ed Ruscha. This period culminated in the publication in book form of two collections of essays, Pop Art: Object & Image, and Image as Language: Aspects of British Art 1950-1968, as well as a monograph devoted to the paintings of Patrick Caulfield.

In 1968 Finch became an associate curator at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.  From there he moved to New York, and returned to freelancing, contributing articles to Arts, Art News, Art in America and other periodicals.  Starting in the mid-seventies, he began a series of books on popular culture that included the best-sellers The Art of Walt Disney, Rainbow: the Stormy Life of Judy Garland, and Norman Rockwell's America, followed by Of Muppets & Men, Jim Henson: the Works, and Special Effects: the Making of Movie Magic.  Books on fine art published in the 1980s and 90s included a series of three volumes on the history of watercolor.

Having given up making art when he began to write criticism, Finch returned to painting and graphics in 1984. He has had exhibitions at the Anita Friedman Gallery in New York City, and the Louis Stern Gallery in Los Angeles, and his work has been included in a number of museum shows. Since 2005 he has employed digital photography as a medium that parallels his hand-made work.

His most recent book is Chuck Close: Work, a monograph devoted to the art of Chuck Close who Finch first met while at the Walker Art Center, an encounter which led to the Walker purchasing Big Self-Portrait, the first of Close's supersized portrait heads.  Finch is currently writing Chuck Close: Life, a companion biography.