Literature: Sculptor Sigurjón Ólafsson (1908–1982) Catalogue Raisonné, no. LSÓ 259.

Exhibited (edition 1/6): “Lavaens blå blomst (Hraunblóm)”, Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, Reykjavik 2005, Akureyri Art Museum, Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelts Museum, Herning and Nordatlantens Brygge, Copenhagen, 2006. Exhibited (edition 1/6): “Tracks in Sand. Sigurjón Ólafsson Retrospective”, Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum & the National Gallery of Iceland, 2014, ill. in the catalogue p. 26. Exhibited (edition 1/6): “War Horses. Helhesten and the Danish Avant-Garde During World War II”, NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, 2015 and Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelts Museum, Herning, 2016, ill. in the catalogue p. 29. Exhibited (edition 1/6): “Mangfoldige former”, Sigurjón Ólafsson Retrospective exhibition, Museum Sønderjylland - Kunstmuseet i Tønder, 2019–20, ill. in the catalogue p. 169. Provenance: Sigurjón Ólafsson Estate.

The sculpture is a study for the wooden pedestal that supported the part of “The Dragon” sculpture that was made of concrete (1939 - LSÓ 1051). It is shaped like a stylized human creature holding an organic form with its hands. The figure could symbolize life itself versus the all-destroying Dragon, which according to the artist's statement was his protest against the Nazi regime of the Germans. The dragon has been lost but was part of the following exhibitions: “The Artists' Autumn Exhibition”, 1940, No. 229 (Abstract Sculpture), “Bellevue - Thirteen Artists in Tent“, 1941, No. 96 (Abstract Sculpture) and ”Sculpture Exhibition in the Garden Society's Garden", 1943, No. 121 (The Dragon).

A contemporary photo shows Sigurjón Ólafsson in his studio at Nyhavn 63, Copenhagen, in the process of cutting off the plaster mold for the draft of the Dragon sculpture's wooden base.