his wife Nini Herman tells us: “No sooner had this information reached himthan Josef suffered a total breakdown . . . JankelAdler stepped in and nursed Josef through those weeks withmaternal tenderness.” Though his artistic horizons would soon extend beyond
Glasgow’s Jewish community, Herman felt a strong sense of loyalty to that community and particularly to a small group of businessmen who supported himfinancially. Herman gave lectures on subjects such as ‘Jews in art’ to local Jewish organisations and to accompany the 1942 exhibition of Jewish art, an ambitious project initiated by Benno Schotz. “The exhibition opened on 20 December 1942 . . . in the Jewish Institute . . . in this exhibition were shown artists who had never before been seen in Scotland, such asModigliani, Chagall, Zadkine, Bomberg,Mané Katz, Soutine andmany others.”And despite the fact that “Glasgow Jewry had not yet awakened to art, and one had to use sledge hammer techniques tomake any impression on them,” it was a great success. In October 1941 Herman had his first one-man exhibition.
left: After a Pogrom: from Memory of Memories, c.1942-3 Pen, ink and wash on paper above: Lighting a Candle, Glasgow 1941 watercolour below: My Family and I,1941, gouache on board
Benno Schotz, aware that not only the subjectmatter but also the style of his friend’s work would be alien tomany, wrote: “Herman belongs to the Expressionist School of Painting, a school of painting which impels the artist to paint notmerely the outward appearances of things, but to express in addition what he feels and knows about them. . . Those visiting this exhibition . . .may find this aspect of Herman’s art strange.”Areview written for the Glasgow Herald confirms what Schotz anticipated: “Herman is no studious observer, but is passionately interested in life, and especially in the life of his people. It is not surprising in the light of recent history thatmuch of his work has a sinister andmacabre quality . . . this is a show to be seen, although the flavourmay be too strong for the average delicate palate.” In 1943 Josef and his first wife Catrionamoved to London and reviews of his one-man exhibition at the Lefevre Gallery show similar national
preconceptions.Areview in The Times pronounced: “His deep reds and blues have a glow about them, but his broad, rather coarse-grained fantasies will be unattractive tomany tastes.” Eric Newton described the artist as “a full-blooded, romantic expressionist, a little tooWagnerian formy taste”.
this is an abridged extract from Monica Bohm Duchen’s article for the catalogue for the current Ben Uri exhibition. She wrote about Josef herman’s better-known years lived in the Welsh mining village of ystradgynlais in JR october 2009. the full story of his life and work can be read in her lavishly illustrated The Art and Life of Josef Herman, 2009.
JoSeF HeRMAn: WARSAW, BRUSSeLS, GLASGoW, London, 1938-44 runs at the Ben Uri Gallery, London Jewish Museum of Art, from 21 September 2011 to 15 January 2012 See WHAT’S HAPPenInG page 25
JeWiSh renaiSSance octoBer 45
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