Concluding years, the passing of Herman Wald, aftermath

He showed the works of this period, conceived when he was at the height of his creative powers in  what was to become his  last  retrospective  exhibition held in the Platinum room of the President Hotel in Johannesburg. It was opened by his friend,  Adv.  Philip Wulfsohn.  

In 1970  Wald had received a commission to erect a bird fountain in Salisbury, presently Harare, Zimbabwe, where he went to work on the structure. On the 4th of July, whilst  working on the fountain,  Herman Wald suffered a heart attack. He  tragically succumbed to it  four days later in the presence of his wife and sons. In fulfilment of his wish, he was laid to rest in the West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg at the foot of the monument which he had created in memory of  the six million martyred European Jews.

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Obituaries appeared in the local press, his  works were  reviewed and his untimely death lamented by art critics.[iii] They chiefly mentioned his public sculptures. In the Jewish press Edgar Bernstein mourned his passing  in a passionate lament, describing him as  one who had done  so much for South African Jewry and “got so little in return”. [iv]   Bernstein remarked: “They all came to his funeral, the friends, old and new…”[v] but by saying this he withheld subtle  reproach about the neglect of this  artist. He  ended his obituary with these words:

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 “The Jewish community owes a great deal to the memory of Herman Wald. It would be a fitting gesture if they were to sponsor a commemorative exhibition”.[vi]

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The Jewish Board of Deputies responded positively.  Their  Cultural Director,  Chaim Lewis,  approached the Joubert Park Art Gallery with the request to hold a retrospective exhibition of the works of  Herman Wald in this venue, which in his view was  worthy of the sculptor.[vii] It is baffling how he was treated. First he received an instruction to submit his  request on paper, with which he complied. This was followed by a polite, non-committal acknowledgement of the request, whereupon  the matter faded away and came to nothing. But the Jewish Board of Deputies pursued the matter an  selected the Cranbrooke Hotel in Johannesburg  as a venue   for  a Herman Wald Memorial exhibition. It was  opened in on the 17th October 1971. Cultural functions were presented parallel to the exhibition. On the first evening a number of films on modern sculpture, culminating in the art of Herman Wald, were shown. On the second evening Rabbi  Glasser spoke on contemporary Jewish art and artists, and on the third evening Professor S Rappaport presented a lecture entitled “The Jewish Theme in Art”. A catalogue which was presented as a memento for Herman Wald, was printed for the exhibition.[viii] This was a public tribute by the Jewish community to their distinguished member.  

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Six years later, in 1976, due to  Vera’s efforts, a further  retrospective exhibition of the works of Herman Wald  was held at the Sladmore Gallery in Parktown where thirty sculptures  in ceramic, wood and bronze were shown. They received some scant attention in the press.

His eldest son, Michael, an artist in his own right, presented an erudite  lecture on Herman Wald’s art. However, it was   addressed exclusively  to a Jewish audience.[ix].

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For a number of years after Wald’s death Vera maintained his studio in which his works were housed , showing them by appointment.[x]  From 1987 she and their youngest son, Louis, began gathering information for a catalogue raisonnée. Aided by Wald’s former assistant,  Nimrod Goge, they collated information from owners of Herman Wald’s sculptures all over the world, which was gleaned from exhibition lists.

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After  Vera passed away in 2007, this task was left  to Louis  who had to  place his father’s sculptures into storage.  The renewed encounter with his work moved him deeply and  he subsequently dedicated himself with passionate  commitment towards the  revival his father’s artistic standing in the South African history of art.   Due to his  efforts, a  retrospective exhibition  was held at the South African Jewish Museum in Cape Town in February 2012. At last  Herman Wald  received his deserved recognition. Whilst the exhibition lasted, it received great interest, but again mainly by the Jewish community. However, no catalogue was compiled to cover the exhibition and as yet not a single  monograph has been devoted to the life and work of this exceptional sculptor of the 20th century avant-garde.

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Herman Wald: the  Artist and the Man

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“My best work is the one I will make tomorrow”[xi].

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 Apart from his fountains and two public sculptures erected posthumously, more than four hundred  works  by Herman Wald are known.  Many were created to be cast in bronze. However, due to his untimely death they were never executed in this medium.   

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The art of Herman Wald developed in perpetual state of migration and  deracination which compelled him to adjust repeatedly to new surroundings.   He was endowed with a formidable  technical virtuosity,  both in modelling and in carving.  He would work on several sculptures simultaneously in different styles. Even in his final years he  returned to the theme of the little genre sculptures,  a reminiscence of his childhood.