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James
Northfield (1888-1973)
James
Northfield is one of Australia's most famous poster artists, being
both prolific and innovative in his designs. In particular, his
understanding of colour techniques (at a time when colour-printing
practices were still experimental) contributed significantly to
the development of brightly coloured posters.
Northfield
was born in Geelong and after training at the Geelong Technical
School he served an apprenticeship with the Melbourne printing firm
of F.W. Niven as a lithographic artist. In the early 1930s he set
up his own studio in Melbourne.
Examples
of Northfield's work were included in many of the Australian displays
of international travel posters. In the 1950s, he won the prize
for a cover design for the prospectus of the Art Training Institute-of
which he was chief director of studies-with an image selected by
the Arts Council of the Australian Writers and Artists Federation.
Northfield took up painting in oils after the second World War and
a number of his loosely impressionistic paintings were reproduced
on Australian National Travel Association posters.
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