Scene from Burgundy (Grape Pickers), 1968-7
Oil on canvas
Signed, titled and dated, verso
87.0 x 106.8 cm (34¼ x 42 inches)

Notes:
In Herman’s paintings of peasants working the fields his dark, solid figures dominate the landscape. These robust square forms embody latent strength and force every bit as much as the primitive tractors and threshing machines that sometimes share their world. Herman’s labourers are the human, living machines of the industries he depicts and in them we witness a quiet dignity and stoic attitude that only they possess. He once said ‘I do not need a war to make me think of heroism. It is our endurance of the every day.’
(Josef Herman quoted in: Robert Heller, ‘Josef Herman: The Work is Life’, Momentum, London, 1998, p. 49)
POA