Erratic Boulder II

Two variants of Erratic Boulder mark the beginning of Wagner’s avant-garde-oriented work (1928-1936), which was inspired by elementary natural forms, often of rocks and boulders. Organic and inorganic principles merge in the sculpture of an eroded boulder into which huddled human figures blend. The living creature is transformed into a non-living mass and vice versa, just as an object from the outside world comes to life in an archaic myth. For Wagner, the boulder also represented a primeval form of the prehistoric beginnings of sculpture - the primary sculpture form arose from an accidental natural form, when the artist saw a human figure in a found stone.