A NORTHWEST COAST BONE TRAP STICK

Christie's charge a buyer's premium of 20% (VAT in… Read more

JOSEF HERMAN O. B. E. (3 January 1911 - 19 February 2000) Josef Herman was a major post-War British artist, well known for his paintings of Welsh miners and peasants in landscapes. His work is represented in most galleries and collections in Britain as well as many abroad. He was awarded the O.B.E. in 1981 and invited to become a member of the Royal Academy in 1990. But those who visited him were astonished to see an important collection of African art, and the largest collection of "miniature" carvings in private hands. By "miniature" Josef defined carvings less than ten inches high, but held to no hard and fast rule. I first met him in May 1969 at the viewing of the first general sale of tribal art to be held at Christie's since the war. "Come quickly - you must see this, Bill Harris is laughing". A porter had rushed into the anteroom of the Great Rooms at King Street. Bill Harris, a stocky middle aged porter with an unusually long head, had never been seen to smile, let alone laugh. He was indeed laughing, and heartily, with others grouped about a small rotund man wearing a corduroy jacket and a scarlet neckerchief. It was Josef Herman. After I had introduced myself his first question to me was "Well dear, is there something you would like to buy in this sale?" There was - a small Chokwe whistle carved as a head with two horn-like projections, but even at #25 is would have cost me more than a week's salary. It was also something that Josef had selected for himself, but he had a solution: "Well, I will tell you what we will do. You bid until #25 and if you get it, it is yours, if not I will continue to bid and you can buy the one I have already for #25. The one in the sale is better than mine." The episode reveals many aspects of Josef's character: his joy of life, his vitality, his generosity, his boundless sense of humour, and his attitude to his collection - it was not possessive. Born in Warsaw, Herman's childhood in Poland as the son of an impoverished Jewish cobbler is told in his charming autobiography Related Twilights (Robson Books, London, 1975). In it he also describes the path to painting through printing, and the persecution which led to his flight to Brussels in 1938 with a forged passport. There he was thrilled by the work of Servaes, Ensor, van den Berghe, de Smet and Permeke - the influence of the last artist can be seen to permeate Josef's greatest paintings. When the Nazis invaded Belgium Herman fled to France and thence, miraculously, to Britain, where he settled in Glasgow. He was befriended by the sculptor Benno Schotz and met again the painter Yankel Adler. He exhibited at Connell's Gallery in Glasgow in 1942 and the following year at Lefevre in London. He then moved to Wales for eleven years where he painted the miners who inspired much of his best work, a celebration of the nobility of the working man. In Related Twilights he describes how he developed the luminous colours and his distinctive style: "An all absorbing stillness ... space as soft and luminous as the inside of a rose ... a timeless moment - all these things I tried to paint." (p.51). From Wales Herman often visited London where he met a number of other artists including Sir Jacob Epstein. It was Epstein's magnificent collection of tribal art - the greatest in private hands at that time - which made Josef aware of the invention and variety of forms from so called "primitive" sculptors, and it was probably at Epstein's instigation that in 1945 he visited William Ohly at the Berkeley Gallery off Berkeley Square, where he bought his first African carving, a small Songye figure, (lot 243) for "a glorious pound". He returned soon afterwards to purchase what had really caught his eye - a unique Mende figure which cost him fifteen pounds (lot 64). When he showed Epstein his acquisition the comment was "You see how well you can trust your eye". Herman had become hooked. He did not have the means to compete with collectors like Epstein, but from that time he kept a portion from a sale of his own work to buy either a "primitive" or something from another artist. Epstein sold him a number of African carvings (see lot 184), as did another British sculptor, Leon Underwood (see lots 132, 155, 157, 307). He attended the auction sales in London, combed the Portobello Road where James Keggie could be guaranteed to produce something interesting, and visited dealers to feed his new passion. Besides William Ohly at the Berkeley Galleries, the principal tribal art dealers in London were Sidney Burney, Hannis Schmitt at Gallery Apollinaire, Paul Wengraf at the Arcade Gallery, John Hewett and Herbert Rieser: later, in the 1960s, they were joined by Philip Goldman, Ralph Nash at the Art of Man and Werner Muensterberger, amongst others. They all welcomed visits from the man who did not mind if the carving was a small one. The visits continued when he moved to London where he bought a house with a studio in Edith Road, then to Suffolk in 1962 and when he returned to London in 1972. Collectors and dealers were always welcome, and he lent both his "primitives" and his own work generously to exhibitions, most notably Dada and Surrealism Reviewed at the Hayward Gallery, London, in 1978, a touring exhibition for the Arts Council in 1985, and Africa The Art of a Continent at the Royal Academy, London, in 1995. He would also buy art that was not a "miniature". Each new acquisition was a cause for celebration. I was present the day he acquired the Dogon fragment (lot 55). "Look at the monumental qualities of this piece. From a photograph you could never tell its size - it fills such a space - it is incredible". The figure remained a favourite all his life. Similarly the female figure from South Africa now attributed to the Tsonga, (lot 364) which he bought from Ralph Nash in about 1971. "How can Ralph not see the power in this piece! He let me have it for only a few hundred pounds and I was willing to spend thousands!" The staff (lot 248) with the seated figure finial, the head turned sideways on its knees, reminded Herman of his miners. He often made sketches of his carvings although he said "If there is any African influence in my work it is an unconscious one". However the influences are evident, especially in a type of maternity figure which was obviously inspired by his Lobi carvings (see lots 41 and 44). On the subject of fakes Herman had mixed feelings. He disliked the thought of harbouring any in his collection, but admired the attitude of an eminent sculptor who was also a collector whom he quoted as saying about an ivory "It is a fake, of course, but look at the way it is done. The fingers - what a wonderful pattern they make". After which Josef commented "...it takes an artist to find out elements which interest him despite the fact that it is a forgery". (Taken from an interview with Oliver Mathews in The Antique Collector, September 1985, pp.83-85.) Herman also had firm ideas on the ethics of collecting. "But you know, collectors have a bad name; collecting has a bad name. What one forgets actually is that, quite apart from the huge fantastic prices for some things, there is also an aspect of collecting which has something to do with human innocence and as a matter of fact the most ardent collectors are children. One always thinks that collecting is for the very rich, and because of the fuss made about such and such a piece worth a quarter of a million, one forgets that there is something much more significant in collecting" (op. cit. pp.83-85). Herman was fascinated by his "primitives". Questioned about his "miniatures" he replied "The Greeks discovered space for us ... the African universe is much narrower so instead of putting sculpture within this space they brought space into sculpture. I was always interested in monumentality on a small scale. Of course a large monumental piece is very impressive, but monumentality is something much more - it is a synthesis of form. So my concern with the miniatures has two things. It is that I really love them, and that I think they are as great as miniatures of any more prestigious culture." (op. cit. pp.83-85). He relished a discussion on Tribal Art with good friends such as William Fagg, head of the African section of the Ethnographic Department at the British Museum and later Keeper of the Museum of Mankind, who published many carvings in Miniature Wood Carvings of Africa (Adams and Dart, London, 1970), and John B. Donne, a poet and art historian who wrote articles about the Herman collection on various occasions. A result of these deliberations can be found in an essay Herman wrote called "In Defence of Primitivity" in which he extolled simplicity, rejecting the contrived in favour of spontaneity - not the naive spontaneity of a child but a freshness springing from thought and discipline. "The conceit that we have a prerogative in knowing what is "quality" is nothing more than intellectual humbug. We learn in the spirit of humility". I have no idea if it was ever published, but the typescript remains in the family. He had long discussions with Underwood whom he quotes: "Form without subject is the malaise of Western art", and goes on to say that the tribal artist has never learnt to question the unity of form and subject: when he does he will no longer be tribal. Herman admired Underwood immensely and wrote a review of his work when it was exhibited at the Minories in Colchester in 1969. The Herman collection was never static, but some favourites never left it. In 1969 it contained many pieces from cultures other than those of Africa, but then Josef exchanged most of his Oceanic sculptures for African with Count Dominic de Grunne. The Dapper Museum in Paris persuaded him to part with the fine group of figures from the Cameroon Grasslands: other minor transactions took place as Josef found new pieces to tempt him. He explained to me that after he had absorbed from a carving what ever had attracted him to it in the first place, he was prepared to trade or sell it to another collector or dealer to whom it would bring joy and satisfaction. Josef finally decided to give his collection to his son, David, and daughter, Rebekah. It is now to be sold in Amsterdam, a city always close to their father's heart, where he discovered Rembrandt who "began painting man with a soul within him ... with a hand guided by trembling feelings, not a self assertive intellectual and arrogant hand." "... Amsterdam, the city I love most " (Related Twilights, p.145.) Hermione Waterfield

Details

A NORTHWEST COAST BONE TRAP STICK
The flat rectangular head finial surmounted by a quadruped, tapered stick below, creamy patina

26.5cm. high

Special notice

Christie's charge a buyer's premium of 20% (VAT inclusive) for this lot.

More from THE JOSEF HERMAN COLLECTION OF AFRICAN ART

View All