Josef Herman

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Josef Herman (1911 – February 19, 2000) was a highly regarded realist painter who had an undeniable impact on contemporary art, particularly in Britain.

Herman was born in Poland to a Jewish family. He attended the Warsaw School of Art for two years before working biefly as a graphic artist. He left Poland for Brussels in 1938 where he was introduced to many of the prominent artists working in the city at the time. The invasion of Belgium by Germany forced him to leave for France and then Britain, where he first lived in Glasgow before moving to London.

Much of his work took working people as its subject including grape pickers, fishermen and, most famously, miners. The latter were a particular focus for Herman during the eleven years that he lived in Ystradgynlais, South Wales from the mid-1940s.^[1] In 1951 he was asked to paint a mural for the Festival of Britain and he again took the miners as his subject. Herman's style was bold and distinctive. It often involves strong shapes with minimal detail.

In 1981 he was awarded the Order of the British Empire and in 1990 he was elected to the Royal Academy. He continued to work up to his death in 2000.

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There are examples of Herman's work in many of the major public and private art collections of the World.

The Tate Gallery in London has an extensive collection of Herman's paintings and drawings, however, many are not on permanent display although they can be seen on line at: The Tate Gallery.

A smaller collection resides at: National Museum of Wales.