The quarry worker

This sculpture depicts a muscular, athletic-looking man pulling a heavily loaded ‘clump cart’ (Luppenkarre) with a long drawbar. In the iron smelting industry, a clump (Luppe) is an intermediate product that is still being processed. The man is wearing trousers and closed boots; his upper body is naked, indicating that his work place is very warm. Spreading his arms and lunging forward, he leans on the long handle of the barrow to shift the heavy load. August Hagen was a painter and sculptor who trained at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf. Hagen’s particular interest lay in industry and physical labour, which developed out of his father’s road construction company and quarry. Up until the outbreak of the First World War, he created in his Siegen studio located at Eintrachtstraße 4 several detailed sculptures of ironworkers engaged in hard labour. In these works, he demonstrated his extensive knowledge of anatomy. The Siegerlandmuseum’s collection includes exemplars from various phases of the artist’s career.