Josef Herman in Wales

Herman was a Polish exile born in Warsaw in 1911, who arrived in Britain via Belgium and France in 1940. He was awarded the OBE and was a Royal Academician. His artwork is reminiscent of Georges Rouault and the German Expressionist artists and some are particularly naïve. The book’s concentration on just one period of his life, spent in Wales from 1944 to 1955, leaves the reader frustrated. Some of the drawings and paintings reproduced may be from an earlier period but as many of the paintings are not dated we are left ignorant. We are not told why he left Wales. He became a member of the Royal Academy in 1990, so it would be useful to see some examples of his later work.

The text is suitably simple for young readers but basic omissions, for instance, explaining which war is being referred to, are significant. There is an error at the back of the book with regard to the actual dimensions of a painting.

More questions raised than answered here.