Born in Augusta, Maine, Frank Alfred Bicknell moved to Malden, Massachusetts, and first studied art with Albion Harris Bicknell, who is believed to be a second cousin. He also explored the artists’ colonies sprinkled throughout New England, making painting trips to Cape Ann and Annisquam on Massachusetts’ North Shore, as well as Old Lyme, Connecticut, where he first set foot in 1902 and spent most of his career. Bicknell was fully immersed in the American art scene, becoming an Associate of the National Academy in 1913 and joining the National Arts Club, the Salmagundi Club, and the Lotus Club. He took part in annual exhibitions of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Boston Art Club, among other venues, and also spent six years as an Associate Professor at the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University).