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Frank Atkinson had a big impact on the sign industry during his lifetime. Born in Chicago two weeks after Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over the lantern, Frank grew up there learning the sign trade. In 1926, he was an instructor in design, lettering and pictorial courses at the Superior Sign School in Chicago. He won widespread recognition through his books, The Art of Sign Painting and Scene Painting and Bulletin Art, along with numerous articles in Signs of the Times magazine.
Ten years earlier, he operated a service in sketches for outdoor bulletins and commercial and electric signs. During the last 27 years of his life, he operated a sign business in Jackson, Mississippi where he achieved considerable fame as a portrait and landscape artist. The painted the mural for the state capitol dome where many of his paintings were displayed.
In 1950, his Last and Final Book on Sign Art was self published. By 1955, he had suffered three heart attacks, and became a shell of his early self. At the age of 84, he was still painting and enthusiastic about life.
Ref: 1972, Signs of the Times, Heinie Johnson—Mike Jackson
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