| Oskar Herman | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 17, 1886 Zagreb |
| Died | January 18, 1974 (aged 87) Zagreb |
| Nationality | Croatian |
| Field | painting |
| Training | Zagreb, Munich |
| Movement | colourist expressionism, modern |
| Works | paintings in oils and watercolour, drawings |
| Influenced by | Anton Ažbe, Julius Meier-Graefe, Giorgione, Tintoretto, Palma Vecchio, Hans von Marées |
Oskar Herman (1886–1974) was a Croatian Jewish painter. He was one of the group of Croatian artists known as the Munich Circle, who had a strong influence on modern art in Croatia.[1]
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Herman was born on March 17, 1886 in Zagreb to Croatian Jewish family.[1][2] He initially attended business school in Zagreb,[3] although his interest was in drawing and painting. He studied art at the painting school of K. Filipa[3] in Zagreb. Then he moved to Munich where in 1904, like his compatriot Josip Račić, he attended the school of the Slovene painter and teacher Anton Ažbe.[3] In 1905 he enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where he studied until 1910 under teachers such as Hugo von Habermann.[3] At that time Munich was a center of European art scene for Realism, Post-Impressionism, Symbolism and Jugendstil.
Herman continued to live in Munich until 1933, with short stays in Zagreb, Berlin and Paris.[1] At that point, due to the escalation of Nazism, he returned to Zagreb.[4] During his stay in Munich he regularly displayed his work, with some success, at solo shows as well as participating in exhibitions of Munich Secession Art.
In the war years, Herman joined partisan forces and was captured and confined the refugee camp (1942–44) of Ferramonti-Tarsia, in Calabria, southern Italy.[3][4] After his release he joined the artists colony of Cozzano.[4]
In 1944 Herman returned to Croatia and the partisans. In 1945 he started work as a curator at the Modern Gallery in Zagreb, a position he held until his retirement in 1954.[5] That year he prepared a retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Crafts,[6] and in 1971 a major retrospective at the Art Pavilion. Herman was a reclusive artist, so his work was late in being accepted and understood.[1]
Herman died 18 January 1974 in Zagreb.
As a member of the famous Munich Circle, Herman's early work had a strong influence on Croatian contemporary art from the first half of the twentieth century.[4] As the longest lived member of the group, Oskar Herman had the most time to develop as an artist, yet he remains the least well-known and accepted within Croatia. Recent acclaimed retrospective exhibitions have shown previously unknown Herman drawings, most of them from the Munich period (1906–1933) and have led to a better appreciation of his work.[7] While in Munich, Herman encountered the ideas of prominent art historian Julius Meier-Graefe and his aesthetics of "pure visibility". He found inspiration in the work of such artists as Giorgione, Tintoretto, Palma Vecchio, and Hans von Marées.[7]
Herman was solitary artist who pursued his own vision, largely unaffected by contemporary trends in modern art.[8] By the 1920s he was known for being somewhat of a recluse. His use of symbolism developed before the expressionism movement became widespread. His paintings show ever stronger expressiveness, with his main motive to depict man and his inner world.[4] Herman's early watercolours show strong, brilliant colours out of which his own particular expressionist colourism developed. From 1925, his work also reflected an increasing vision of future persecution and terror.[7]
Herman's painting Dva stabla pod brijegom (Two Trees at the Foot of a Hill) was featured on a stamp in the series Croatian Modern Paintings issued 2008[4]
Some of Oskar Herman's work can be seen on the Remek-djela website [8]
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