Frank Arthur Nankivell (born Francis Arthur Nankivell), printmaker, painter, lithographer, printer, and political cartoonist, was born to Annie and John Nankivell in Maldon, Australia on November 16, 1869. He began studying at Wesley College in Melbourne in 1883 but left after a year due to failing grades. He then began an apprenticeship with an architect and was eventually pushed by his father to study engineering. He became a student of the Victorian Railways and earned his degree in 1886. During his studies, Nankivell learned lithography.

Nankivell moved to Japan in 1892. He disembarked in the town of Yokohama and on his second day in Japan he found a job working for the American Edgar Vorris Thorn’s shop, The Box of Curios. The company produced a newsletter and Nankivell earned his living enlivening the newsletter with his illustrations. While in Japan, he studied the techniques of Japanese woodblock printing. He left in 1894 and headed to San Francisco where he published and illustrated the magazine, Chic, and he drew for the San Francisco Call, Examiner and Chronicle.

At the close of the nineteenth century, Nankivell moved to New York in 1896. His intellect, sense of humor, and drawing skills combined to make him one of the most influential cartoonists of the time. He specialized in social commentary and political issues and his caricatures were published in Puck. After leaving Puck, Nankivell was put on retainer by Hearst Publications. With time on his hands, he turned toward painting and, in the 1900s and 1910s, he experimented with woodblock printing and produced a small number of color woodcuts. He was also an etcher and a master printer and printed etching plates for Arthur B. Davies, Gordon Grant, Gerald Geerlings, and Childe Hassam.

Nankivell participated in the Pennsylvania Fine Arts Annuals from 1909 to 1912, the Armory Show of 1913, and the Salons of America. He became a member of the New York Circumnavigators Club, which was only opened to those who had circumnavigated the globe longitudinally, by land and/or by sea.  Other members included Ernest Hemingway and Harry Houdini.

Frank Arthur Nankivell died July 8, 1959, in Florham Park, New Jersey.