Collection of 16 autograph letters signed by the painter John Carlton Atherton, comprising 9 letters addressed to Julien Levy and 7 letters addressed to Lotte Barrit, his gallery’s secretary and manager (19 pages on 17 leaves). All letters are signed John Atherton with the exception of three signed “Jack”. Letters on “The Quarry Bridgefield, Connecticut” headed paper, three letters with the printed heading struck through and replaced in pen with “Shaftsbury, Vermont”, and one letter bearing the address Upper Blackville, New Brunswick, Canada.

A rare set of letters by the American painter John Atherton, celebrated artist of Magic Realism, addressed to the gallerist Julien Levy and his collaborator Lotte Barrit.

The Julien Levy Gallery, known for having represented Max Ernst, Joseph Cornell, Frida Kahlo, and Pavel Tchelitchew, had given Atherton his first solo exhibition in 1938. This group of letters by the painter dates from a particularly fruitful period of his career marked by two exhibitions, the first at the prestigious Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (January 15-February 19), and another in Buenos Aires, at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes during the summer. That same year, he also won the “National Defense Poster” competition organized by the MoMA, having previously distinguished himself with his lithograph for the World’s Fair of 1939.

The letters to Julien Levy and Lotte Barrit discuss his paintings exhibited in New York and South America (“I heard from Gene Davis that the “Backyard” was at the Metropolitan and going on tour in Latin-America “). The painter asks for news of his artworks (“Did the museum who inquired about “The Pit” buy it or turn it down?” “I would particularly like one to go to the Corcoran [Gallery of Art in Washington]”), and arranges the well-known exhibition at the Whitney Museum (“Isn’t the Whitney show for drawings & watercolours? I have a few drawings I might bring in when I come, and see if you think they are worth showing”). Atherton also confides in his work and influences: “your ‘Chess’ show sounds interesting. I’ll try to produce an idea in time to send you a picture. I’ve done about half a dozen paintings so far. Some came out fairly well. […] The country abounds in good material and I hope to find better ways of painting it as time goes on “. One can follow the development of certain works: “The new picture will be done this week — come hell or high water! You may have it for whatever you like. It is about the size and quality of “Industrial landscape” so the price probably should be about the same, or whatever you think best. The title is “The Yard”.

Certain passages are full of humour, when Atherton worries about giving one of his paintings to “violent communists”: “Would you mind choosing one of my pictures and mailing the enclosed blank for the anti-fascists? That is, unless you know anything about this organization which might lead me to not offer a picture. I don’t know about them, and hope  they aren’t violent communists!”. This correspondence reveals the artist’s complete trust in this exceptional gallerist, who had done so much to promote American painters gravitating around Surrealism: “Thanks for your very encouraging note. It’s very satisfying to see things go so well, and I hope I don’t give you, or anyone who likes my pictures cause to regret it” he writes to Levy on December 11 [1940]. Atherton, an avid fisherman who spent most of his time in the countryside of Connecticut, Vermont, or Canada, relied on the gallery for the promotion of his work: “Please excuse my lack of knowledge of what happens in the art world, as I don’t get around much” he writes to Lotte Barrit.

Interesting archival material providing exceptional insight into the inner circle of a major American artist, whose letters in private hands are of the greatest rarity.