English Description: Joannis Avramidis is a protagonist of modern sculpture. His geometrically severe figures show, in inimitable classicism, the human being as the measure of abstract figuration. Werner Hofmann’s book covers the timeless design principles of a body of work developed from the energies of the corporeal. The formal language of the Greek sculptor Joannis Avramidis, who was born in Georgia in 1922, is based on geometric constructions that allow the eternally valid to be seen as the law-governed constant in the individual. The structures that result serve no norm, however, but integrate the variety of particularities in bodily forms of a finely nuanced structure. In the proportion of the parts to the whole, and in the basic form to its offshoots, there appear clear and concentrated figures of confident monumentality. The ‘rhythm of severity’ is their unmistakable distinguishing feature, and something which the artist Avramidis has made entirely his own. In this rhythm are expressed corporeality and statics, sensuality and detachment, the sophistication and immutability of the classic standard. In his book, Werner exemplifies the criteria of seeing which these works require, integrating them into the genesis of their structure and shows the totality of the uvre in the variety of its themes and ideas. In the process, the approach via the drawing shows itself to be the essential precondition for the understanding of the sculpture. This richly and sensitively illustrated book allows access to works whose classically calmed strength, through museums and numerous public places, has long been anchored in the awareness of modern art. German description: Joannis Avramidis ist ein Protagonist der modernen Plastik. Seine geometrisch strengen Figuren zeigen in unnachahmlicher Klassizitat den Menschen als Mass abstrakter Figuration. Werner Hofmanns Buch erschliesst die zeitlosen Gestaltungsprinzipien eines aus den Energien des Koerperhaften entwickelten Werks.
