Arthur Atkins (painter)

Arthur Atkins (1873, Queens Ferry, England - 1899, Piedmont, California) was a tonalist landscape painter. He emigrated to San Francisco at the age of 19. He was in reality self-taught, but studied briefly at the San Francisco School of Design. His paintings were shown at the Vickery, Atkins & Torrey gallery and at his Jackson Street studio, both in San Francisco, and his paintings sold well. His brother, Henry Atkins and his uncle, William Kingston Vickery were co-founders of the Vickery, Atkins & Torrey art gallery.

Between 1897 and August 1898, Atkins visited England and France and studied art in Paris. He was mostly influenced by the paintings of Édouard Manet and James McNeill Whistler though in Europe.

Atkins' favorite landscape subject were the rolling hills close Piedmont, across the niche from San Francisco. Atkins' works are very scarce due to a flame at his San Francisco studio in the 1890s and supplementary losses in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.

A book of Atkins' notes and letters, from his visit to Europe, by A. M. Robertson and Bruce Porter, was published in 1908.