Josef Herman OBE RA (3 January 1911 – 19 February 2000), was a highly regarded Polish-British painter who influenced contemporary art, particularly in the United Kingdom.
He was part of a generation of central and eastern European Jewish refugee artists who emigrated to escape Nazi persecution.
After the beginning of World War II and the German invasion of Belgium, he escaped to France and then in 1940 to Great Britain.
[3] In Britain, he first lived in Glasgow, where he met the sculptor Benno Schotz who became a lifelong friend and he was reunited with the Polish-Jewish artist Jankel Adler.
[4] In 1942 he met and married Catriona MacLeod and he had his first exhibition in Scotland at Aitken Dott & Son, Edinburgh.
Herman is best known for his paintings of working people, including peasants, fishermen and, most notably, coal miners.
The latter became a particular interest for Herman during the eleven years that he lived in Ystradgynlais, a mining community in South Wales, beginning in 1944.
"[9] The mural is held in the permanent collection of the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, affiliated with the Swansea Museum.