James Hull was amongst the most innovative artists of the Post War period. His earliest paintings were figurative but by 1950 he started producing abstract compositions.
Encouraged by Herbert Read, Hull had his first exhibition in the Brook Street Gallery, London in 1949. His subsequent one man shows in London include Gimpel Fils Gallery, the Strickland Gallery, the Adrienne Resnick Gallery, and Whitford and Hughes. His work was included in numerous group shows. His reputation as a member of the avant-garde grew as he showed at Gimpel Fils, London and painted his mural The Story of Coal for the Festival of Britain's Dome of Discovery in 1951.
He won a competition to design the interior of the Daily Mirror building, and he worked for the IPC publishing conglomerate until 1970.
In the 1970s Hull moved to Ibiza in 1971 and travelled widely. He spent some time designing jewellery but concentrated again on painting in the 1980s.
Hull showed also in Paris, Rome and New York.