John Carlton Atherton (1900–1952) was an American painter, illustrator, and writer. He moved from art studies on the West Coast to New York in 1929, where he worked as a commercial artist and created advertisements, posters, and magazine covers. He later became associated with American surrealism and exhibited at Julien Levy Gallery. Atherton illustrated more than 40 covers for The Saturday Evening Post and wrote and illustrated the fishing book The Fly and the Fish.