HIS posters for seaside resorts and rail journeys are famous for their stylish, colourful designs - but the Bradford-born artist who created them is not so well known.

In the 1920s Frank Newbould was one of the most formidable poster artists of his generation. His travel posters for London Transport, the LNER and Empire Marketing Board were bold and bright, and he signed his name on all of them. Nearly a century on, his work still has a wide appeal; often reproduced as prints, cards and fridge magnets.

Frank’s life and work is explored in a new book by Not Just Hockney, the arts project headed by Colin Neville highlighting artists past and present from Bradford district. Says Colin: “The 1920s and 30s have been described as ‘the Golden Age of the Poster’. The Great War was over and people wanted to enjoy themselves and go places. Advertisers told them what was available - and increasingly told them so in bright and new ways.”

The success of this advertising was largely down to young British artists, influenced by artists in Europe whose work was stylish as well as functional. “By 1920 commercial art in Britain had carved a status as a valid profession,” says Colin. “Large organisations such as Shell and London Transport were demonstrating the commercial advantages of using eye-catching colourful poster advertising blending image, typography and text. Enter Frank Newbould - Bradford-born, sharp, shrewd, hungry to succeed. He is reputed to have had a notice in his studio: ‘Will it sell?’ Art was his ticket to success.”

Born in 1887, Frank grew up off Lumb Lane, his father was a pharmacist with a shop on nearby Manningham Lane. Frank went to Bradford Grammar School then, from 1905-1908, Bradford School of Art. He worked for Percy, Lund and Humphries & Co Ltd, a Bradford company at the forefront of printing technology, giving him a thorough knowledge of modern techniques and a commercial education. His first known advertisement was in 1909 for Vimant Gas Mantles of Bradford.

By 1911 he’d moved to London and graduated from Camberwell School of Art with a first class degree. One of his first travel poster commissions was for holiday cruises on the RMSP Arcadian, leading to a series of posters advertising cruise destinations.

When the First World War started Frank was sent to France with the First Battalion of Prince of Wales (West Yorks Regiment). After the war he returned to commercial art, working initially in Fleet Street before acquiring his own studio in Kensington. From the 1920s he was a freelance cartoon illustrator for journals, and was one of a network of young designers creating posters for London Underground, bringing style and colour to what had been a dull art genre.

In 1926 the government-sponsored Empire Marketing Board was encouraging the public to buy products from countries in the British Empire. Frank was commissioned to design posters for hoardings, shops and classrooms. He became one of the highest paid of all the EMB artists and travelled to places such as Australia, Canada and the Middle East to sketch.

He’s best known for his 1920s and 30s LNER railway posters in bold colours. Says Colin: “The two main strap-lines in LNER poster advertising were: ‘It’s Quicker by Rail’ and that the East coast was ‘The Drier Side’ of Britain. LNER artists produced images of relaxed holiday-makers, with no umbrellas or windbreaks in sight.”

In 1933 Frank revived the ‘Skegness is so Bracing’ poster, originally drawn by John Hassall for Great Northern Railway. Frank’s design included Hassall’s jolly fisherman, this time being pulled by his scarf along the beach by a little girl.

At the start of the Second World War Frank designed a recruiting poster for the Auxiliary Fire Service and from 1942-45 worked at the War Office as a designer, creating morale-boosting posters and designs urging people to build more ships and save for victory. After the war he continued to design railway company posters. He died from diabetic complications on Christmas Day in 1951, aged 64.

In 2007 Bradford College profiled Frank’s work in a celebration of alumni. His original posters are in the V&A Collection, National Archives and private collections, and his designs are widely reproduced as nostalgic reminders of a bygone age.

Says Colin: “His name is not well known locally, or elsewhere. But his drive, commercial nous and talent can still be an inspiration to any young person today aspiring towards a career in graphic design. His artwork is still as fresh, bright and appealing today as when it first appeared on hoardings across Britain.”

* Poster Boy: The Life and Work of Frank Newbould is available at notjusthockney.info. Profits support the community-managed Silsden Town Hall.