'Three Miners', Josef Herman

Artwork details

Artist

Josef Herman (1911‑2000)

Title

Three Miners

Date 1953

MediumOil paint on wood

Dimensionssupport: 343 x 521 mm frame: 475 x 645 x 55 mm

Collection

Tate

Acquisition Purchased 1953

Reference

N06198

On display at Tate Britain

Theme: BP Walk through British Art

Room: 1950

Display caption

In 1944 Herman moved to the Welsh mining village of Ystradgynlais and took as his central theme the life of the miners and of the village community. In a text written in 1946 he described his responses to the miners he drew and painted obsessively in these years: 'although at first sight like other workers, the miner is more impressive and singular. Sometimes I thought of old Egyptian carvings walking between sky and earth, or dark rocks fashioned into glorious human shapes, or heavy logs in which a primitive hand has tried to synthesise the pride of human labour and the calm force which promises to guard its dignity.'

August 2004