HERMAN, Josef

• Seated Mexican, 1957; original work, in watercolour, pencil and Indian ink.

Description

• Uncommon original work. 

• By 1955, Herman felt he had completed his definitive statement on British industrial life, culminating in his famous 1951 mural for the Festival of Britain. Following a difficult divorce from his first wife, Catriona, and experiencing a period of poor physical health, he made the heavy-hearted decision to leave the Welsh mining village of Ystradgynlais. Seeking a fresh start and new artistic inspiration, he began travelling extensively across southern Europe and the Americas, which led to an extended trip to Spain and Mexico. This 1957 piece was created directly from his observations during his time in Mexico. 

• While Herman's setting changed from grey Welsh mining valleys to sun-drenched Mexican landscapes, his core subject matter remained entirely unbroken. He used his time abroad to document the inherent dignity of ordinary, everyday labourers. In Mexico, he swapped figures of coal miners for indigenous peasants, field hands, and street vendors.

•  Studies like this served as essential building blocks for his larger oil paintings, many of which now hang in major public institutions such as the Tate Gallery and the National Museum Wales.

• Framed and glazed,

• Image, 20.6x18.3cm; external, 41.2x33.1cm.