H. V. Meyerowitz

Who is H. V. Meyerowitz?

Herbert Vladimir Meyerowitz was an artist, educator and British colonial administrator in Africa.

Meyerowitz's father was a wealthy German businessman and his mother a Russian pianist who had studied with Artur Rubenstein.

At the time of the 1905 Revolution, the family moved from Russia to Switzerland, where Meyerowitz was educated at a Pestalozzi school. His education was completed in England, with holidays in Russia. The family were in Russia when war broke out in 1914 and, because of their German nationality, they were interned at Ekaterinburg. They moved to Berlin in 1916 as part of a prisoner exchange between Russia and Germany. In 1918, Meyerowitz served briefly in the German army.

After the war, he returned to Berlin to study art. Together with his future wife, Eva, he developed an enthusiasm for the art of West Africa. Meyerowitz went on to study woodcarving at the Berlin Kunstgewerbeschule. He became an admirer of the educational theories of Franz Cižek

On the completion of his art training, Meyerowitz moved to South Africa with his wife, where he established a reputation as a wood sculptor. He taught for five years at Cape Town University and opened a school of art.