James Northfield

{{Short description|Australian graphic artist (1887–1973)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}

{{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}}

James Northfield (1887–1973) was an Australian graphic artist active from the 1910s through to the 1960s. He illustrated many commercial and government advertisements which depict Australian scenery, wildlife and daily life[https://archive.today/20141208050514/http://www.uq.edu.au/centreqld/images-banners-cascades-brisbane-jpg "Triumph in the Tropics: Selling Queensland"]. Centre for the Government of Queensland and also demonstrate the priorities of the government of the day.{{cite book|author=Caban, Geoffrey|title=A Fine Line: A History of Australian Commercial Art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yn3sAAAAMAAJ|date=1 January 1983|publisher=Hale & Iremonger|isbn=978-0-86806-012-5}}{{cite book|author1=Crawford, Robert|author2=Stuart, Judith|author3=Humphery, Kim|name-list-style=amp|title=Consumer Australia: historical perspectives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KXcpAQAAMAAJ|date=1 August 2010|publisher=Cambridge Scholars|isbn=978-1-4438-2270-1}}

Northfield is best known as the designer of a series of posters for the Australian National Travel Association, who commissioned him, alongside Percy Trompf, Walter Jardine, Eileen Mayo, Gert Sellheim and C. Dudley Wood to promote Australian holiday destinations to local and overseas travellers.{{cite book|author1=Butler, Roger|author2=National Gallery of Australia|name-list-style=amp|title=Printed images by Australian artists, 1885-1955|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rkWdAAAAMAAJ|year=2007|publisher=National Gallery of Australia|isbn=978-0-642-54204-5}}{{cite book|author1=Hogben, Paul|author2=O'Callaghan, Judith|name-list-style=amp|title=Leisure Space: The Transformation of Sydney, 1945-1970|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_lP3AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36|date=1 June 2014|publisher=NewSouth|isbn=978-1-74224-680-2|pages=36–}} Many of these 'Travel Poster' designs were included in the 1999–2000 exhibition Follow the Sun – Australian travel posters 1930s–1950s at the National Library of Australia, and in various other public exhibitions.Crawford, Robert. "James Northfield and the Art of Selling Australia by Michelle Hetherington" (review). National Library of Australia

Northfield also created a series of patriotic posters during World War II.{{cite book|author=Stanley, Peter|title=Invading Australia: Japan and the Battle for Australia, 1942|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1fjeAAAAMAAJ|date=3 June 2008|publisher=Penguin Group Australia|isbn=978-0-670-02925-9}}{{cite book|author=Kwan, Elizabeth|title=Flag and Nation: Australians and their national flags since 1901|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=el_JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA56|date=1 May 2006|publisher=UNSW Press|isbn=978-1-74224-687-1|pages=56–}}

A detailed monograph of Northfield's work, James Northfield and the Art of Selling Australia, has been completed by author Michelle Hetherington of the National Museum of Australia.{{cite book|title=Australian Book Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z04iAQAAMAAJ|year=2006|publisher=Australian Book Review}}

The James Northfield Heritage Art Trust (JNHAT), a not-for-profit Trust, was registered in October 2002 to preserve, protect and promote Northfield's artworks.{{Cite web |date=6 April 2025 |title=About - James Northfield Artist |url=https://jamesnorthfield.com.au/about |website=James Northfield Artist}}