Description:

John Atherton
Vermont, California, Minnesota, New Brunswick / Canada., (1900 - 1952)
Portrait of a woman, Weintje Pentecost
oil on canvas
signed lower left.

From the Archives of askART: For John Atherton there was no line drawn between "fine" and "commercial" art. He painted pictures for advertisers, magazine covers, and galleries alike. All were characterized by his strong sense of design and color.

Atherton was born in Brainerd, Minnesota, studied at the College of the Pacific, and the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco. He first worked in a number of West-Coast art studios learning the basics of his craft. When he won a $500 first prize award in the annual exhibit of the Bohemian Club in 1929, it financed his move to New York.

There, he began to do illustrations for advertisers, including General Motors, Container Corporation of America, and Shell Oil, and covers for Fortune, Holiday, and The Saturday Evening Post.

His first one-man show was held in Manhattan in 1936. In the "Artists for Victory" show in 1943, his painting, The Black Horse, won the $3,000 fourth prize from among 14,000 entries. It now hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. His work is also represented at the Whitney Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Chicago Art Institute, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, The Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo, and the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford.

Atherton's great avocation was fishing. He tied flies of original design expertly, was a member of the Anglers' Club, and author of a book, The Fly and the Fish. His death occurred while he was on a salmon-fishing trip in New Brunswick, Canada. He was survived by his wife, Maxine Breeze.

Source:
Walt and Roger Reed , The Illustrator in America, 1880-1980; A Century of Illustration

  • Dimensions: 27 1/2"H x 25 1/2"W (sight), 33 1/2"H x 31 3/8"W (frame)
  • Medium: oil on canvas

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June 4, 2022 11:00 AM EDT
Indianapolis, IN, US

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