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

Magic Realist painter John Atherton was born in Brainerd, Minnesota. In the beginning of his career, Atherton supported himself as a commercial artist. Determined to establish himself in the fine arts, the artist moved to New York City in 1929. Almost a decade later, in 1938, he had his first solo exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery, one of the nation's leading avant-garde gallery.

In 1943 Atherton's work was included in the Museum of Modern Art's exhibition American Realists and Magic Realists. Two works executed in 1941, the same year Fly-Fishing was painted, were included in that show. In his statement published in the exhibition catalogue, Atherton explained the content of his work, "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 fisherman and internationally known fishing journalist, writing articles on fishing for national publications like the Saturday Evening Post. Atherton died while on a fishing trip in 1952.