81

JOHN CARLTON ATHERTON
American, (1900-1952)
Foggy Day, 1941
oil on canvas
signed and dated lower right "Atherton, 1941"

oil on canvas
26 x 36 inches

  • Provenance: Property from a distinguished American collection.
  • Exhibited: New York, New York, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), "Romantic Painting in America," November 17, 1943 - February 6, 1944; Chicago, Illinois, The Art Institute of Chicago, "American Paintings and Sculpture, 53rd Annual Exhibition," October 29 - December 10, 1942.
  • Notes: A label from The Associated American Artists, New York, New York is on the reverse.

    Framed dimensions: 33 x 42 3/4 x 4 1/4 inches


    John Carlton Atherton was born in Brainerd, Minnesota in 1900. After a brief service in the U.S. Navy during WWI, Atherton moved to San Francisco, California in 1920. There, he attended College of the Pacific and The California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute) and practiced his techniques in various WestCoast studios.

    After winning a five-hundred dollar first prize award in the Bohemian Club's annual exhibition in 1929, Atherton was able to afford to move to New York City, where he was able to achieve success as both a fine and commercial artist.

    He had his first solo exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York in 1938, a gallery which was home to other avant garde artists including Joseph Cornell, Frida Kahlo and Max Ernst. He was included in the landmark exhibition "American Realists and Magic Realists" at the Museum of Modern Art in 1943, where he exhibited alongside George Tooker and Jared French. He said in his statement for this exhibition; "Any painting lives or will last because it is well painted, regardless of whether it is a potato or a human body. By this I do not mean mere technical dexterity but painting which builds the spirit of the forms."

    Considered to be one of the Magic Realists, John Atherton was one a group of artists who turned away from abstraction and sought inspiration from the masters of the Italian Renaissance. The influence of Giorgio de Chirico is evident in the current example, Foggy Day, 1941. Magical Realism can be considered an off-shoot of surrealism, with the disconnect in the mood rather than in the distorted object itself.

    Atherton's work is included in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, The Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo, and the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford.





    Tags: listed artist, oil painting, 20th century, Surrealism, Magical Realism, modern / contemporary
  • Condition: in overall very good condition; lined canvas; a few very minor areas of restoration; slight crazing; stretcher bar marks along the upper edge; needs to be rekeyed (slight buckle lower right and lower left corners); recommend cleaning
    Condition Report Note:
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