John Atherton’s impressive draftsmanship and meticulous technique are immediately recognized in Shell (Surrealist Landscape). The many figures visible inside the shell’s surface are juxtaposed with the stark landscape to provide the sort of imaginative dream-like scene that defined Atherton’s career. This work marks the major rediscovery of a surrealist Atherton masterpiece, unseen by the public for decades. Unearthed from an unknown South Carolina private collection, Shell (Surrealist Landscape) has been dated to the early 1940s, based on the age and condition of the canvas. Stylistically, a clear connection can be seen to Atherton’s 1941 painting, Invasion: The Heads (featured in the 2005 National Academy Museum Exhibition Surrealism USA), which includes intense detail and swirling colors in the foreground objects, against a barren, yet moody, landscape in the background.