Landscape Abstraction - Mid-Century - Twenty Paintings in One

At the height of Abstraction Expressionism, overlooked Academic Artist John Atherton created a wonderfully complex painting that embodies many of the characteristics of what was going on in Mid-Century American Art. The work is simultaneously abstract as it is representational. Like a Bento Box, it's divided into sections by dividers. On close inspection, each section stands on it's own as a beautiful mini-painting yet coalesces as part of the whole. From a distance, it is eye-pleasing, but as the view gets closer and closer, new structures and details gloriously reveal themselves. This is an important painting and not unlike the work of Joaquín Torres-García. It was done in the last year of the artist's life. Signed lower right. Canvas is relined. Framed size: 30 x 41.25. The work is best viewed with top gallery lights to bring out color. Atherton exhibited at the famous Julien Levy Gallery in New York and his fine art is mainly associated with Magic Realism. He participated in the seminal 1943 Museum of Modern Art exhibition, American Realists and Magic Realists. The Museum of Modern Art has 4 Atherton paintings in its collection. As an Illustrator, Atherton did covers for the Saturday Evening Post, Fortune and Holiday Magazine among others.
Fleming Museum of Art, Burlington, Vermont
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
Wadsworth Atheneum,Hartford, CT
Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Whitney Museum of American Art,New York
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,Philadelphia
De Young Museum,San Francisco
Smithsonian American Art Museum,Washington DC
Butler Institute of American Art Youngstown, OH