"Danger Signal" by Robert Atkinson Fox

(1869-1927). Oil on canvas; 19" x 29". Used as a calendar print in the 1920’s. Robert was a Philadelphia artist who produced more than 1000 works of art. From 1900 until his death, millions of the artist’s color photolithographic reproduction prints were consumed by the American middle-class. Fox was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1860, but immigrated to the US somewhere around 1890, and enjoyed great commercial success during his lifetime. He worked for various publishers, including Brown and Bigelow, Edward Gross Co., Master Art Publishers, The Red Wing Advertising Co., and the Thomas D. Murphy Co., among others. Fox studied in Canada and Europe prior to arriving in America. He was the pupil of J.W. Bridgeman. His worked appeared as art prints, calendars, advertising pieces, ink blotters, candy, handkerchief and jewelry boxes, magazine covers, children’s books, newspaper inserts, postcards, puzzles, and thermometers. Fox was a generalist. He could paint basically any assignment given to him by a publisher. He frequently painted from memory, aided by sketches, sometimes finishing a painting in a day's time. His subjects included landscapes to enchanted gardens, countryside cottages, animals, and pets (he was a leading painter of cows, but elected to paint horses, dope, sheep, bears, and foxes). His diverse subject matter also included Indians, lndian maidens, the Wild West, historical and contemporary themes, hunting, fishing scenes, adventure, ships, and historic figures.