Josef Herman's Influence on other Painters.
© by Herbert E. Roese from: The David Jones Journal Vol.VI, 2007.

References to Josef Herman’s influence on other painters have been frequent. Herman himself always insisted that he was not a teacher and that he did not take on students, because he was not interested in giving lessons. Yet, throughout his career there was a small group of painters who knew Herman well enough to established a personal relationship with him. This did indeed lead to an influence that the people concerned could not, or did not want to escape from. Wherever the artist settled for a while, his personality and artistry became an instant talking point in the local art scene. Young artists were magnetically attracted to Herman’s style. His figurative painting, the mainstay of his art, and the social context that it reflected was still very much in vogue. He dealt with archetypal themes of universal significance and took an individual path between realism and a kind of poetic symbolism. The subjects in Herman’s paintings represent a metaphor for the exploitation of a work force, the associated hardship and poverty, but also their strength and courage to survive their conditions. His drawings, especially, investigated the humanity and dignity of labour themes. They remained a potent subject well into the following generation.

Josef Herman (1911-2000) was born in the Jewish quarters of Warsaw. In 1930 he entered the Warsaw School of Art & Design to study painting. He earned his living as a freelance graphic artist and had his first exhibition in 1932. By 1936 he had become involved with a group of painters whose concern for social justice in pre-war Poland induced them to form a society which they named “The Phrygian Bonnet”, invoking the memory of the libertarian French revolution. This involvement shaped Herman’s artistic and humanitarian ideals, which influenced his whole career. Foreseeing the impending calamity of world war, he left Poland for Belgium where he met the painter Constant Permeke, whose sombre colours and massive peasant figures cast a permanent spell on Herman. He admired Permeke’s proletarian subject matter and his painterly social realism. In 1940 he fled Belgium ahead of the imminent invasion and ended up in Glasgow although he had boarded a ship bound for Canada. In Glasgow he soon joined the avant-garde Unity Theatre Club, run by the Scottish painter J.D.Fergusson. He began to work on illustrations of Jewish stories, which were exhibited in Glasgow and Edinburgh. This was followed by visits to the Western Isles of Scotland where he drew the local fishermen at work. The next stop in his Odyssey to find a new place to put down his roots, was his arrival in the mining village of Ystradgynlais in the Swansea Valley of South Wales. It was here that Herman established his fame as one of Britain’s best-known contemporary artist of the time. Although his paintings were mainly figurative he did engage in abstract sketches. His bold style was an ideal method for capturing the gestures of his subjects, while the sculptural massiveness of his compositions led to the famous panels of miners for the 1951 Festival of Britain exhibition. They represent the symbolic expression of what he saw as the dignity of human labour. His earth colours like orange, sienna, deep pink and semi-transparent glazes were to evoke an opalescent luminous quality.

In 1940, when Herman first arrived in Britain, i.e. in Scotland, he made the acquaintance of Joan Eardley (1921-1963), who studied painting at the Glasgow School of Art. In his own edition of Related Twilights (1975, published by Robson Books). Herman describes how he first met Joan and that, after their first meeting, she came frequently to his studio: “She used to bring a home-made sketchbook, very large and awkward to handle. From her early efforts it was difficult to foresee the fine artist she was to become.” It is true that he was not her teacher, but she came to him for his advise and, without a doubt, learnt from his experience as a proven painter of an idiom, which fascinated her too. Eardley was born in Sussex but moved to Scotland in 1939. A year later she began an art course at the Mackintosh School of Art in Glasgow. She was a particularly able draughts-woman and an unusual and expressive colourist. The strength of her chalk drawings of peasants have been described as ‘Van Gogh-like’ in their sympathetic intensity. In the earlier part of her career (at the time she knew Herman) her subjects were the working-class children of Glasgow, whom she made alive as no one before her. In her figurative paintings flat perspectives and black outlines were not infrequent. In later years she concentrated on land and sea-scape paintings which were stylistically quite different. They were dramatic and colourful and almost surrealist. The sea (and most of these paintings were done outdoors, in all weathers) was her ultimate and most fruitful subject and source.

Some suggest that Herman’s influence on the Glasgow art scene of those days (1940-43) was considerable. Social-realism was the driving force at the time and a number of painters in Scotland were attracted by it, amongst them George Hannah. Some of his works are said to reflect both the left-wing sympathies of this group of individuals and the influence of Josef Herman. One particular painting by Hannah, Charwoman, was published in the left-wing review “Million” in 1943 and gives a good insight into the painters’ thinking. “Josef Herman certainly contributed to the focussing of these left-wing views on painting” (D.MacMillan, Scottish Art 1460-2000, 1990 p.370).

Another painter and later stage designer, who prescribed to these ideals and who made Herman’s acquaintance at that time, was Glasgow-born Tom MacDonald (1914-1985). He spent a year studying painting with Josef Herman and was an associate of both him and J.D.Fergusson, i.e. he was involved with the Unity Theatre for which he designed sets and directed plays. He took over Herman’s Glasgow studio (which had previously been Jankel Adler’s) when they left for London in 1943. Originally trained as a marine engineer, MacDonald was self-taught in art after having spent only a short period at the Glasgow School of Art. Since 1965 he also painted sets for Scottish Opera. His stage sets could be said to show Herman’s influence and were expressionist paintings of Glasgow’s working-class life. MacDonald, the painters Bet Low (his wife) and William Senior formed the Clyde Group whose intention was to promote a specifically political kind of art. MacDonald declared that it was Herman’s attitude to his subject, as much as his painting, that influenced them in this enterprise (D.MacMillan, 1990 p.371). But Herman’s influence was not all embracing on the young artist because his work, rather than representing social- realist painting in the manner of Herman, developed into a series of industrial and urban landscapes. In later years MacDonald used strong literary associations in his surrealist imagery. By then, collage was a frequent medium of his. The decorative or aesthetic as well as the subconscious or surrealist were the levels at which he made his statements. Often his paintings were deliberately ambiguous so that the viewer had to pause and think. For a number of years he was extra-mural lecturer in Art at Glasgow University and was appointed Governor of the Glasgow School of Art in 1977.

In 1942, Herman married Catriona MacLeod (1913-1985) in Glasgow. She was a relative of the 28th Chief of the MacLeod Clan of Dunvegan Castle in the Isle of Sky, Dame Flora MacLeod of MacLeod. Catriona had a twin brother, the late Sir John MacLeod who died in 1984. She was studying art in Glasgow when Herman arrived there and was known as a talented draftsperson as well as a musician. By marrying Josef Herman she became closely associated with his style of painting. She learnt a great deal from her husband’s craft as a painter and each maintained a studio in their home in Wales. Catriona was an experienced portraitist and painted many a local subject. Her still-life paintings show a Cezannean influence. She also painted local street scenes, which captured the spirit of the working class community. Catriona had a flamboyant personality and loved the outdoors, especially the sea. Tragically, their baby daughter Sandra died in infancy before they came to Ystradgynlais; their marriage ended in the latter 1950s and Josef re-married. Nevertheless, despite Herman’s influence, Catriona MacLeod maintained her own style of painting throughout her life. There is a family cottage on the Isle of Sky, which holds her work. It used to be her studio where she continued to paint until her death.

Herman left Scotland for London in 1943 and a year later, while on a short vacation to South Wales, he arrived in the Welsh mining village of Ystradgynlais. Apparently, his first impression of the place, the scenery, the light, the miners walking to and from work, made an indelible impression of grandeur as well as sadness on him, which was to become the source of his work for much of his life. He stayed in Ystradgynlais for 11 years. Making no secret of his socialist ideals, Herman quickly integrated into the community; there were many meetings in his house where the economic concerns of the people were discussed. It was this contact which helped Herman to gain access to the mines through the influence of union officials. For a while he was also the chairman of the Ystradgynlais Male Voice Choir. Once again, people were intrigued, even fascinated by this Continental artist who had descended into their midst. It was a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity for aspiring local painters to make this man’s acquaintance. John Harvey, surmises in his book Miner-Artists: the art of Welsh coal workers (2000, p.16) that a number of miner-artists made the pilgrimage to Herman’s studio. He thinks that the fact that “significantly more miner-artists were concentrated in the Neath district during the 1940s and 1950s may also have been due to the presence of Josef Herman”. Cyril Ifold (1923-1986) - who was from Glanrhyd, Ystradgynlais - was one such miner. Apparently, a friend of Ifold’s from the Swansea Art School, where he had lessons from Alfred Janes, took him and a portfolio of his work to show Herman. The latter is said to have been “very critical of Ifold’s work at the time”, but it has been supposed that he later changed his mind. Like so many youngsters in the area, Ifold had to go and work in the pits at the age of 14; his father had died some 6 years earlier. He had always dreamt of becoming a painter, as his grandfather had been a successful portrait painter himself. So, at the age of 15 he went to have after-work lessons from Arthur Powson, a local artist of the old school, who used anatomy books for teaching purposes. Ifold was fascinated by Herman’s paintings, which “indicated to him the direction he should be going in his own work” as he and Herman shared an interest in both art and mining. Although Ifold never had any formal lesson from Herman, the latter’s influence has been considerable and can be seen even by the untrained eye. Yet, Ifold never imitated his role model; on the contrary he painted in a variety of styles which had interested him over the years. He often explained that his thresholds continually extended both in style and content in search of perfection. Some early works show a Cezannean influence. Towards the 1960s he experimented with a Futurist style. Throughout his life he occasionally painted portraits, imagined and real, of miners he knew and of local celebrities. Eventually Ifold turned to landscape painting which gave him the sensation of the sonorous colour and movement which he had been aiming at for a long time. His landscapes were not drawn from life but were composite images, which he had stored in his memory while walking the countryside. In some paintings he concentrated light in the centre of the picture which diminished in intensity towards the edges. He called it his ‘concave effect’.

The arrival of the Hermans in Ystadgynlais, in the early 1940s, brought in its wake a new social establishment unknown to the village before. Visitors from the general art scene descended upon the community. They came from London and Glasgow and the Continent, especially expatriates. Amongst them were the painters Martin Bloch, Jankel Adler and Heinz Koppel, the American painter Anette Wilcox and Wales’ own Will Roberts. The photographer Mishka Peto and a Polish ballet dancer and her husband from the Ballet Rambert were guests. So was the editor of The Jewish Quarterly, Jacob Sonntag, the author and playwright Alex Baron and many others. There were innumerable musical evenings. As a regular visitor, Will Roberts (1908-2000) an expert violin player, contributed to many a soiree accompanied by the adept pianist hostess Catriona herself. Once, she put on the pantomime Cinderella for the children of the locality. Not only had she produced the performance but, as an expert seamstress, she also made all the costumes and stage sets. It was in this environment that Will Roberts, already a painter for the past 20 years, became a close associate of Herman’s. His friendship with the latter marked him out as the artist’s closest disciple. In his book Will Roberts remembers: “I used to assist Herman with preparatory work. I painted with small brushes so that every nuance could be rendered” (Will Roberts RCA – Drawings, ed. P. Joyner, 2001, p.21). In the first instance, Roberts had gone to see Herman with a portfolio of works, for Herman’s scrutiny. The latter was impressed and offered to act as tutor to him, as Will Roberts’ widow recalls. Although there is a visible relationship between the two painters’ work, there is an important difference. Kyffin Williams expressed the view (see introduction to the above book) that: “Whereas Josef Herman dedicated himself to the painting of mankind in a powerful manner that owes much to the influences of Constant Permeke, the work of Will Roberts is more specific and shows the individuality of human kind”. Perhaps the difference between the two painters’ styles has to be sought in their cultural backgrounds. In an interview with Phillip George for ARCADE, No.15, 1981, Roberts made an interesting comment. George observed that Roberts’ painting had been much influenced by the Berlin Expressionism of Jewish exiles, to which Roberts is said to have remarked: “…the irony is that they should have brought a style of painting which developed in the decadence which led to their persecution”. The reference to Jewish exiles had its origin in a remark by Roberts in a paper in Artists in Wales in the 1970s. He said that Martin Bloch, whom he knew well and alongside whom he had painted, also had much to impart, a fact which has been mentioned in the Dictionary of Artists in Britain since 1945, page 1035. Heinz Koppel was another painter whom Roberts knew personally.

In 1955, Josef Herman left Ystradgynlais and returned to London. His huge panels of Welsh miners at the 1951 Festival of Britain exhibition had made an enormous impact on many visitors. Amongst them was a young Jewish woman, Phyllis Lawson, born in 1928 in London and brought up there. After studying at Willesden Art College, she embarked on a career as an artist (see Dictionary of Artists in Britain since 1945, page 733). At Herman’s next exhibition upon his return to London, she was introduced to him and asked if he would teach her. He explained that, as a rule, he did not take on students, but he was willing to look at two pieces of her work which were being exhibited at the time. One of them was called Men on Strike, which promised to be an interesting subject. They made enough of an impression on Herman for him to agree to take her on. Lawson knew that much of what she had learnt at college had to be ‘unlearnt’ (the first piece of advice she was given by her new tutor). She also knew that what she wanted to paint needed tutelage from a different quarter. Under Herman’s guidance, her natural desire to paint in the manner for which she was to become known, blossomed. For the first time in her career she acquired real freedom to express herself. Thereafter, she spent some years in South America and the light, the colours and the native people there enchanted her. She developed a very personal style. In 1964 Lawson returned to Europe to settle in Brussels where she practices her art to this day. Here, her most important period began. A first-class drafts-person, Lawson possesses the enviable gift of being able to portray human body language and that with astonishing ease. Apart from the actual skill, she has an amazingly astute eye for the human scene. This gift could be compared with the perfect sight-reading of a musician. Lawson’s colours have great depth and density and, as her erstwhile tutor Herman acknowledged: “She uses pigments to attain the most of its evocative possibilities, but she takes care that it remains the only material substance of her picture” (‘Phyllis Lawson’, 1975, exhibition catalogue of the Fieldbourne Gallery London). Lawson has justified her tutor’s trust in her artistry and in his own ability to recognize a talent. She has become a very successful painter, especially on the Continent.

A contemporary of Phyllis Lawson, Mira Hamermesh, also entered Josef Herman’s ambit in the late 1950s. She is of Polish-Jewish stock and painted in the Herman style. Very little is known about this period of her career, because she gave up painting and concentrated instead on writing and the ‘lens-based’ media, i.e. photography and film-making. In the late 1980s and the early 1990s she made documentaries shown on Australian television and in Britain. Her films dealt with ‘Politics of the Divide’ such as the eternal clash between Arabs & Jews. BBC2 screened a moving and personal film made by her, dealing with the echoes and the ghosts of the past based on experiences in the Lodz ghetto in Poland.

In order to evaluate Herman’s impact on this small group of ‘disciples’ one has to consider that at the time of their involvement with the artist, most had been painting for some years. They were predominantly interested in figurative painting and a ‘sturdy’ form of depicting figures related to their social- realist ideals. Herman had introduced this style into the British art scene after having been influenced himself by the paintings of the Belgian Constant Permeke prior to his arrival in Britain in 1940. The style was much sought after in the 1950s and 1960s as was the accompanying colour pallet. These can be regarded as the common factors that could have formed the basis for Herman’s influence. The contacts Herman established in Scotland were not on a tutorial basis. They were contacts that helped him to establish himself in the country in which he intended to settle. The young students involved simply adopted the new and exciting influence. The situation changed, however, when Herman came to Wales. Both Roberts and Ifold were mature people and were painters in their own right. Only one was actually offered tuition, namely Will Roberts, who was also a personal friend of Herman’s. They had a kind of working relationship as one finds elsewhere in the visual arts, e.g. Gaugin and Van Gogh. When he finally settled in London, Herman’s fame had gone before him, e.g. his large murals for the Festival of Britain in 1951. As far as is known, only two aspiring painters were given tuition during Herman’s London period, i.e. Phyllis Lawson and Mira Hamermesh. In fact, the former continued her pupil/tutor relationship up until Herman’s death. There were others in Wales who painted the subjects that Herman had made popular, but they developed their own styles, such as Jack Crabtree, Valerie Ganz and the late Colin Jones (1928-67). By the end of the 20th century, however, the subjects that had inspired Herman had largely vanished due to the closure of coal mines and with it the associated industrial environment, including the changed landscape.