James McMullan (born June 1934) is an Irish-Canadian illustrator and designer of theatrical posters.
Born in
Tsingtao,
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
, where his grandparents had emigrated from
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
as missionaries for the
Anglican Church, he and his mother fled to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
at the onset of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. In 1944, he enrolled at St. Paul's Boarding School in
Darjeeling
Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal, ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. After his father was killed in a plane crash, he joined his mother in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
, and the two relocated to
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...
, where he completed his high school education.
When McMullan was 17, he and his mother emigrated to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, where he studied for a year at the
Cornish College of the Arts in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
. He joined the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
and served at
Fort Bragg
Fort Bragg is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and is one of the largest military installations in the world by population, with around 54,000 military personnel. The military reservation is located within Cum ...
in
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
, where he drew diagrams of where to position
propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
loudspeakers on
Sherman tank
}
The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the United States and Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, and available in great numbers. It w ...
s.
In 1955, McMullan moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to continue his art education at
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...
. While studying there he supported himself by illustrating book jackets for authors such as
Lawrence Durrell and
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...
. He also did magazine illustrations for ''
Esquire
Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title.
In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
'' and ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...
'', among others. In 1966, he joined the
Push Pin Studios
Push Pin Studios is a graphic design and illustration studio founded by the influential graphic designers Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast in New York City in 1954. The firm's work, and distinctive illustration style, featuring "bulgy" three-dimen ...
design firm, working alongside
Milton Glaser,
Seymour Chwast
Seymour Chwast (born August 18, 1931) is an American graphic designer, illustrator, and type designer.
Biography
Chwast was born in the Bronx, New York City and in 1949 graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn where he was intro ...
, and
Edward Sorel
Edward Sorel (born Edward Schwartz, 26 March 1929) is an American illustrator, caricaturist, cartoonist, graphic designer and author. His work is known for its storytelling, its left-liberal social commentary, its criticism of reactionary right-w ...
.
McMullan began selling illustrations to the fledgling ''
New York Magazine
''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...
'' in 1968; by 1974 he was a contributing editor, helping to develop its graphic personality. His most notable contribution to the publication was the artwork illustrating
Nik Cohn's 1976
story about a
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
discotheque. The piece served as the basis for ''
Saturday Night Fever
''Saturday Night Fever'' is a 1977 American dance drama film directed by John Badham and produced by Robert Stigwood. It stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young Italian-American man from the Brooklyn borough of New York. Manero spends his ...
''.
McMullan's first theatrical poster was for the 1976 production of ''
Comedians'' at the
Music Box Theatre, produced by
Alexander H. Cohen
Alexander H. Cohen (July 24, 1920 – April 22, 2000) was an American theatrical producer who mounted more than one hundred productions on both sides of the Atlantic. He was the only American producer to maintain offices in the West End as well a ...
, who began to hire him on a regular basis. When Cohen's associate,
Bernard Gersten
Bernard Gersten (January 30, 1923 – April 27, 2020) was an American theatrical producer. Beginning in the 1960s through the early 2000s, Gersten played a major role in shaping American drama and musical theatre.
From 1960 to 1978, Gersten wor ...
, became executive producer of
Lincoln Center Theater
The Vivian Beaumont Theater is a Broadway theater in the Lincoln Center complex at 150 West 65th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Operated by the nonprofit Lincoln Center Theater (LCT), the Beaumont is the only Broad ...
, he invited McMullan to join the organization. As of 2022, he had created more than 90 posters for Lincoln Center productions, many of which are included in the 1998 book ''The Theater Posters of James McMullan''. He won a
Drama Desk Special Award for his consistently inspired artwork for the theater in 1991.
André Bishop
André Bishop (born November 9, 1948) is an American theatrical producer, and Artistic Director and Producing Artistic Director, of Lincoln Center Theater. He has produced over 80 Broadway plays and musicals and has won numerous Tony Awards.
Ea ...
, the artistic director of the Lincoln Center Theater, has written than "McMullan manages to capture ''le moment précis'' of each play, and he does it well in advance of ever having seen the production." In 2017, Mark Rozzo, in a profile of the artist for
''Vanity Fair'', noted that McMullan "is to modern-day New York what Toulouse-Lautrec was to 19th-century Paris: the poster artist who sums up the spirit of his age."
In 1981, McMullan published ''Revealing Illustrations'', in which he candidly discusses his working method. He is the creator of the "High Focus" method of figure drawing, which he began teaching at the
School of Visual Arts in 1987. In 2014 he published an illustrated autobiography called ''Leaving China: An Artist Paints His World War II Childhood''. In 2022, he published a book of portraits called ''Hello World: The Body Speaks in the Drawings of Men''.
McMullan and his wife Kate McMullan have collaborated on more than a dozen picture books for children.
References
External links
Official webpage*
{{DEFAULTSORT:McMullan, James
1934 births
Artist authors
American poster artists
Canadian poster artists
Chinese emigrants to Canada
Drama Desk Award winners
Living people
Cornish College of the Arts alumni