JOHN ATHERTON BUY A SHARE IN AMERICA. 1941

A commercial graphic designer, Atherton's output of posters was rather small, and he is best remembered for one of the posters for the 1939 New York World's Fair. He also designed at least two World War II posters. This classic photomontage, in the European style of Herbert Matter, won first prize in a National Defense Poster Competition sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art in 1941."The contest was sponsored by the museum and two of the government's largest users of posters, the Army Air Corps and the Treasury Department. First prize in the Defense Bond category was won by John C. Atherton...[and] was painted on a 48-foot billboard at one of New York's busiest street corners, 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, July 1941." (http://americanhistory.si.edu/victory/victory2.htm). This is the smaller format. Design for Victory p. 24.