James  McMullan  has  created  images  for  magazine  stories,  books  for  adults and  children,  record  covers,  US  stamps,  murals  and  animated  films  but  he is most  well  known  for  the  over  eighty  posters  he  has  done  for  Lincoln Center Theater.  Among  the  most  recognized  of  these  posters  are  Anything  Goes, Carousel,  South  Pacific,  The  King  and  I  and  My  Fair  Lady.  To  celebrate  this achievement  Lincoln  Center  Theater  has  recently  mounted  a  permanent exhibit  of  his  original  poster  art  in  the  lobby  of  the  Mitzi  Newhouse Theater.  

Another  highlight  of  his  career  is  illustrating  the  popular  series  of  vehicle books,  (including  I  Stink!,  a  monologue  by  a  garbage  truck),  written  by  his wife,  the  author,  Kate  McMullan,  which  Amazon  has  transformed  into  the animated  series,  The  Stinky  and  Dirty  Show.  

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A  standout  in  James  McMullan’s  work  for  magazines  is  the  group  of journalistic  illustrations  of  a  Brooklyn  Disco  that  he  painted  for  New  York Magazine that  became  the  visual  inspiration  for  the  movie  Saturday  Night Fever.  

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James  McMullan’s  long  fascination  with  drawing  the  human  figure  led  him to teach  drawing  for  many  years  at  the  School  of  Visual  Arts  and  to  write High-Focus  Drawing,  which  describes  his  approach  to  understanding  and drawing  the  figure.  In  2011,  at  the  request  of  editors  at  The  New  York Times,  McMullan  created  a  12-part  online  tutorial  on  drawing  that  was  titled, Line  by  Line.  

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Along  with  his  illustrated  memoir,  Leaving  China,  his  other  books  are Revealing  Illustrations,  The  Theater  Posters  of  James  McMullan  and  More McMullans.  

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James  McMullan’s  art  has  been  exhibited  in  Paris,  Tokyo  and  Shanghai  as well  as  many  museums  and  galleries  in  the  U.S.  In  2011  the  New  York Library  of  Performing  Arts  mounted  an  exhibit,  McMullan  Posters:  Gesture as Design,  and  in  2012  a  retrospective  exhibit  of  his  art  opened  at  the School of  Visual  Arts  Gallery  in  connection  with  Mr.  McMullan  being  elected into the  school’s  Master  Series  Awards.    

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A  travelling  exhibit  of  the  original  watercolors  from  his  memoir,  Leaving China,  has  been  mounted  at  the  Society  of  Illustrators  and  the  Century  Club in  New  York  City,  the  Rhode  Island  School  of  Design  and  is  scheduled  for the  Norman  Rockwell  Museum  and  Washington  University  in  2019.  

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In  the  December  2017  issue  of  Vanity  Fair,  Mark  Rozzo  writes,  "He  is  to modern-day  New  York  what  Toulouse-Lautrec  was  to  19th-century  Paris."