Joan Abse

Joan Abse (née Mercer; 11 September 1926 – 13 June 2005) was an English author and art historian. She was the wife of Welsh poet and physician Dannie Abse.

Joan Mercer was born St Helens, Lancashire, on 11 September 1926. By age 17, she was a student at the London School of Economics (LSE), where she graduated in 1946 with a Bachelor of Science degree. Abse received a Master of Art degree in Art History in 1972 from Courtauld Institute of Art, London. She met her husband Dannie while living in post-war London, and they married by 1951. Together they had three children.

She wrote many books, including the noted John Ruskin: A Passionate Moralist. Richard Ellmann, a journalist at The New York Times newspaper, writes, "What especially animates Joan Abse's book is her keen interest in Ruskin's effort to blend his artistic and social sympathies."

Joan Abse died in a car accident in Bridgend, south Wales, on 13 June 2005.