Timeline

1906           Born in Cluj, also known as Kolozsvàr, Hungary on 7 July.

 

1926/27     Studied  for two semesters at the National Academy of Arts in Budapest. Teacher in sculpture:  Zsygmond Kisfaludi Strobl.

 

1927           After 31 January went to Vienna.  Apprenticeship in the studio of Anton Hanak.

 

1928          5 January. Death of Herman Wald’s father, Rabbi Jacob Meir Wald.

 

1928/9        October 1928  to April 1929:  studies at the School of Applied Art (Kunstgewerbeschule) in  Vienna in the Dept of Sculpture  under  Prof Eugen Gustav  Steinhof. Worked  in the master class studio of Anton Hanak at the Vienna Kunstgewerbeschule.

 

1930           Relocation to Berlin. Worked in the studio of Totila Albert  (1892-1967).

 

1933           As from April, sojourn in Paris  for 7 months.

1933           Relocation to  London in November.

 

1934           Assumes  position as an art teacher at the Men’s College in London.

 

1937          Emigration  to South Africa in November.

Established  a studio in Smith Street, Joubert Park, where he began  to work and to teach.

 

1938          Group exhibition in the Gainsborough Gallery, Johannesburg.

1938            Participated in a group Exhibition in the Lidchi Gallery,

Johannesburg.

​

1939          Participated in the group exhibition held for the benefit of the South African Jewish War Appeal at the Lidchi Gallery, Johannesburg.

 

1939          Participated in a group Exhibition at the Gainsborough Gallery, Johannesburg.

 

1939          Featured in the October edition of the South African Theatre, Music and Dance Magazine.

 

1940          Exhibition of  graphic work  at the Howard Shaw Gallery, East London. Reviewed in the “East London Daily Dispatch”.

 

1940           Joined the South African Defence Force.

 

1942           12 November: marriage with  Vera Rosenbaum.

 

1944          Herman Wald is discharged from the army. Resumes

work in his studio in Smith Street.

 

1944           Group Exhibition at the  SA Academy for Science and Art,  Duncan Hall, Johannesburg,  from 1 August, together  with  Moses Kottler, Lippy Lipshitz and Gerard de Leeuw.

 

1944            First solo exhibition at the Duncan Hall, Johannesburg on 13 September, opened by Barnett Potter, sub-editor of the newspaper “The Star”.

 

1945           Participated in a group exhibition at the Duncan Hall Art

Gallery.

 

1947          Became a founder member of the Brush and Chisel Club.

 

1948           Participated in a  Brush and Chisel Club Group Exhibition in the Schweickerdt  Art Gallery, Pretoria.

 

1949           Beaux Arts Gallery, Pritchard street, Johannesburg, Group Exhibition with the Brush and Chisel Club.

 

Solo Exhibition at the Beaux Arts Gallery.

 

1950          Francis Mologo joins Herman Wald’s studio  as an assistant.
 

1951           Solo Exhibition in the Beaux Arts Gallery, Pritchard street, Johannesburg, opened by the actor Ben Ami on 19 February.

 

1952          Unveiling of  the wood panel “Sanctum” for the Orthodox Synagogue in Springs  in April.

 

1952           Travels  to Israel, Rome, London Paris and   New York. 7th  September: Solo Exhibition at the New Gallery, West 44th Street, New York.  Reviewed by Steward Preston of the  New York Times, the Forward, and the American People’s Hungarian  Newspaper, New York.

 

1952           Solo Exhibition at the Ann Bryant Gallery, East London, opened 29 th December by the Mayor, F.T. Fox.

 

1952          Inception of Herman Wald’s  ceramics phase with a kiln in his studio.

 

1954          Farewell Solo Exhibition at the Beaux Arts Gallery, Pritchard street, Johannesburg, on the  22nd March.

 

                    Move to 52, 6th Ave., Parktown North, Johannesburg .

 

                   Solo Exhibition at the Van Schaik’s Gallery, Pretoria, opened on 24   May by Prof H.M. van der Westhuyzen, Head of the Dept of History of Art, University of Pretoria.

 

                    Herman Wald closes the kiln in the studio  and outsources his ceramic work to other workshops.

 

1955           Solo Exhibition from  24 March to 7 June at the Van Schaik’s Gallery, Pretoria.

 

1955           Solo Exhibition at  the Naake’s Gallery, Bulawayo, opened 20 June by A.E.Abrahamson.

 

1956           Commissioned by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies to create the Monument to the Six Million Jewish Victims of the Holocaust.

 

1957           Solo Exhibition at the New Gallery, Johannesburg,  5 to 25 September.

 

1957          Solo Exhibition in Welkom, opened on 28 November.

 

1957          “Kria” unveiled at the Jewish Aged Home in Sandringham, Johannesburg.

 

1959          Solo Exhibition entitled “The Bible in Sculpture” at the New Queen’s Hall Gallery, Johannesburg, opened 13 April by Alec Gorshel, Mayor of   Johannesburg.

 

1960          “Artists’ Choice” Group Exhibition at the New Queen’s Gallery, opened 20.October. Herman Wald participated with “Conquest of Space”.

 

                   Consecration of the  Monument to the Six Million Jewish Victims of the Holocaust  on Sunday 10 May at the West Park Cemetery, Johannesburg.

 

                  October. Unveiling of the  Impala Fountain Johannesburg  

          by  Harry Oppenheimer.

 

                    Miniature replica of the  Impala Fountain is presented to Harry           Oppenheimer on the occasion of his birthday on 21.10.1960 by the Mayor of Johannesburg,  Alec Gorshel.

 

                   Unveiling of the  Diamond Diggers Fountain at the Kimberley Civic Centre in  the Sir  Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Garden.

 

1962          Herman Wald begins casting with fibre glass.

 

1963          Group exhibition at Kessel and Bolton, Johannesburg. 

 

1964          Group exhibition at Neptune’s Court, Johannesburg. 

 

1965            Second trip to New York, London, Rome, Paris and Israel for five   weeks.

 

                   Assistant  Francis Mologo leaves the studio.

 

1966          Participated at the Republic Festival  Exhibition with “Jacob and the  Angel”.

 

1967            Unveiling of “The Wings of the Shekhinah”  in the Berea Synagogue, Johannesburg.

 

                   Nimrod Goge  joined the  studio as assistant. His first assignment: “The Protector”.

 

1968          Unveiling of “The Protector” for the S.A. Mutual Life Assurance at the  St. Mary’s Building, Johannesburg.

 

1969           “Unity is Strength” unveiled in the United Building Society in Eloff Street,Johannesburg.

 

1970          Last Solo Exhibition 15 – 23 March at the President Hotel,    Johannesburg, opened by Advocate Philip Wulfsohn.

 

                   Death of Herman Wald  in Salisbury, (presently  Harare) Zimbabwe on  the 4th July .
 

1971          Memorial Exhibition opened by Advocate Philip Wulfsohn in honour of Herman Wald presented by the S.A. Jewish Board of Deputies at the Cranbrooke Hotel, Leyds Street, Johannesburg from 17-21 October.

 

1976           Herman Wald Memorial Exhibition at the Sladmore Gallery, Parktown, Johannesburg: 25 March – 16 April, opened by Prof G R Bozzoli, Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

 

 1979         Herman Wald Memorial Exhibition at the Morris Gallery.  Johannesburg from 6 December to 12 January 1980, opened by Prof Gideon Jacobs, Head of the Graduate School of Business Administration, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

 

2011          Two sculptures installed on the  Campus of  the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

 

2012          February – July: Retrospective exhibition at the South African Jewish Museum, Cape Town.