Ex coll: private collection, Greenwich, Connecticut, until 2001

Magic realist painter John Atherton was born in Brainerd, Minnesota. He first supported himself as a commercial artist, but moved to New York in 1929, determined to establish himself as a fine artist. In 1938, he was given his first solo exhibition at one of the city's leading avant-garde galleries, The Julian Levy Gallery.

In 1943, his work was included in the Museum of Modern Art's American Realists and Magic Realists. In a statement for the exhibition catalogue, Atherton commented: "Any painting lives or will last because it is well painted, regardless of whether it is of a potato or a human body. By this I do not mean mere technical dexterity but painting which builds the spirit of the forms."

Atherton was an avid fly fisherman, internationally known fishing journalist, and author of the classic The Fly and The Fish.