Josef Herman
Josef Herman was born in Warsaw, Poland into a Jewish family, in 1911. He attended the Warsaw School of Art before working briefly as a graphic artist. In 1938, Herman left Poland to escape anti-Semitism, travelling to Belgium and France before settling in Great Britain. Herman studied working people as the subjects of his art, including grape pickers, fishermen and, most notably, coal miners. www.whytes.ie The latter became of particular interest to Herman during the eleven years that he lived in Ystradgynlais, a mining community in South Wales, beginning in 1944. Herman took coal miners as his subject when commissioned to paint a Mural for the Festival of Britain, this work Miners (1951) showed six men resting above ground after their work. Herman's style is bold and distinctive, involving strong shapes with minimal detail. In 1981 Herman was awarded an OBE for services to British Art; he was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1990. Herman's work is held in many of the major public and private art collections of the world. The Tate Gallery in London has an extensive collection of his paintings and drawings. Herman continued to work up to his death in 2000. www.whytes.ie
