Untitled (1970) George van der Wagt
This concrete column by artist George van der Wagt is located at the entrance of the Söderblomflat in Ommoord. The artwork was offered by Bouwmaatschappij Volker after the completion of the apartment building on the Söderblomplaats. This place and flat are named after the Swedish Nathan Söderblom, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1930. Van der Wagt studied, worked and lived in Rotterdam, but this self-titled work was his only assignment for public space. Due to its volume, the 4.30 meter high concrete column comes into its own next to the apartment building, but it can be seen separately from it. The surface in the portico extends below the artwork, so that the artwork is nicely involved in the flat. Van der Wagt had an interesting visual language; a powerful combination of both sculptural volumes and line formation, which gives a kind of organic variation. On August 28, 1970, the unveiling of the statue was carried out by HCGL (Minus) Polak, councilor of Rotterdam from 1966 to 1974.
George van der Wagt (Amsterdam, 1921 - Rotterdam, 2007) was a sculptor, ceramicist, painter and monumental artist. He has carried out many assignments for monumental works of art, especially for school buildings, but also for De Nederlandsche Bank, Philips, AKZO Nobel and Elsevier. The last years of his life, he focused on painting. He attended art academies in Rotterdam and Amsterdam and worked from circa 1936 to his death in 2007. In Rotterdam, he was taught from 1943 to 1945 by sculptor John Rädecker, who assisted in the realization of the National Monument on Dam Square in Amsterdam.