Herman was born in Warsaw in 1911. He left Poland for Brussels in 1938 and was influenced by the work of Permeke. In 1940 he arrived in Britain and remained here for the rest of his life. For a time he lived with Jankel Adler in Glasgow and began to paint nostalgic images from his childhood, heavily focussing on the heroic qualities of heavy labour such as miners, farm workers and fishermen. The public's taste for these pictures produced his first solo exhibition at the Lefevre Gallery. The themes in his work found greater inspiration in Wales where he moved in the 1940's. Herman was launched internationally and his principal gallery in London became Roland Browse Delbanco. His worked is well represented in many public galleries including the Tate. He was elected RA in 1990.