Such was the reach of Sali Herman’s work, that there was a time when almost every pub in New South Wales seemed to have a reproduction of his House on the Hill, 1948 hung in a prominent place. Without a doubt this widely reproduced image would have introduced many Australians to the work of Sali Herman, and it is his paintings of Sydney’s post-war street scenes that are his most recognizable works.

In 1945 Herman was awarded the Wynne Prize for landscape painting and also had a work purchased for the National Art Gallery of New South Wales collection. He then accompanied the gallery’s Traveling Art Exhibition service on a tour across western New South Wales as a lecturer. This afforded him the chance to observe firsthand the hardship being experienced by drought stricken outback Australians at that time. The drought was to last ten years and was responsible for much hardship and heartache, but also inspired several paintings that are widely regarded as masterpieces of Australian art.

Outback, 1946 fits neatly in Herman’s oeuvre alongside his steadfast commitment to depicting the dwellings of inner Sydney workers. Herman’s depictions of working class ‘Sydney slums’ sat comfortably with his leftist ideals which he formed during his time traveling in Europe between the two world wars. Paris in particular enabled him to mix with revolutionary writers and artists. The political ferment of that time stayed with the artist throughout his life.

His participation in exhibitions with the Studio of Realist Art offered a sympathetic environment in which to express his socialist ideals. Herman’s paintings have been seen by many as paying homage to the struggles of Sydney’s underclass following WWII. His 1944 Wynne Prize winning painting McElhone Stairs, 1944, was said to represent labor and hardship, as the artist chose to depict the figures dwarfed by the stairs which appear to get steeper as they rise.