On the royal road of sculpture

Reflexions on the solitary work of the Austrian sculptor, illustrator and painter Joannis Avramidis

“Joannis Avramidis must be considered one of the great sculptor-illustrators of the second half of the 20th century.”^[1] “He [= Avramidis] has given modern a new signature.”^[2] “His sculptures are classics of the European modern age.”^[3] These three exemplary statements are only a few of many summarizing appraisals of Joannis Avramidis’ artistic oeuvre recited with particular emphasis; they point to the great national and international appreciation for the “pronounced anti-modernist loner“^[4] Avramidis. In 1962, Avramidis exhibited 22 sculptures in the Austrian pavilion at the 31st Venice Biennale. Friedensreich Hundertwasser, his congenial artistic partner during this exhibition––one of the internationally most acclaimed presentations which would eventually become Avramidis’ big breakthrough. Two years later, in 1964, Joannis Avramidis was already represented at the third documenta in Kassel. In 2017, the Leopold Museum Vienna showed the artist’s largest retrospective exhibition in Austria to date. Joannis Avramidis’ apodictic preamble: “You are forgetting that I am Greek; to us, the beauty and the truth and the good are one”^[5] marks the determined origin for him to start developing a universal, timelessly valid^[6] design vocabulary. Avramidis recurred to the ideas of Greek antiquity and early Italian Renaissance; returning to their legacy of ideas and shapes however, he strictly rejected the mere imitation. He much rather considered the human image as it was propagated by them as an essential factor for the genesis of his complex sculptural methods. Besides the impulses from antiquity and Renaissance, the touch points with the artistic work of Constantin Brâncuşi^[7], Hans von Marées, Wilhelm Lehmbruck or Oskar Schlemmer become apparent.

At the beginning of Joannis Avramidis’ “royal road“^[8] of sculpture––a ground he would break with the utmost consequence and consistency––there was the artist’s permanent examination of the visible reality, the model of nature: “Without studying nature I would not be able to accomplish anything.“^[9] Drawings from nature, first nudes and heads, later on portrays, sketches of trees and landscapes served as Avramidis’ effective heuristic means of detecting the laws of composition found in nature. “My work stems from the drawing. To me, comprehending something always means setting it out in drawing.”^[10] In this context, the close link between nature observation and reduction respectively abstraction as a mode of design vocabulary is an indispensable basis for Joannis Avramidis’ declared search for the “absolute figure”^[11], a universal sign language of the human form. “This is my concern: to make everything transparent. To reveal the formula. So others can use it, too. To read and examine qualities and flaws. The formula: to produce a human work. Nature is merely the eternal vendor of data.”^[12] “My work is to demonstrate the production of the objective, i.e. the perfectly detectable form. This form is the primary requirement necessary to create an artwork.”^[13] Avramidis did not show interest in abstraction as such, for him this was just a means to an end, the hidden inner structure to unfold the laws of nature, on the basis of which an individual, strictly hermetical design vocabulary is generated. “Basically, every artwork is in fact abstract, because the act of creating something is essentially a process of abstraction. The opposite would be a depictive work, which to me is not imaginative. There are great works that deal with nature, but their depictive representation lowers their value.”^[14] Strictly systematically “constructed“ modulations of the objectified sculptural idea, concretised in an abstracted volume form are the visible “three-dimensional“ result of the human figure, previously “built“ from a meticulous, almost engineer-like plan. Wieland Schmied drew the following comparison: “Perhaps the plan of Avramidis’ sculptures may be compared to that of an architect, who designs a planned building in the floor elevation and––storey by storey from the ground floor to the roof truss––in the floor plan, before construction can begin.“^[15] For the spatial conception of his de-individualised, invulnerable, contemplative figures and heads, Avramidis used a “scaffold” made of horizontally and vertically crossing aluminum sheets, which was filled with the “flesh of sculptural substance“^[16] (plaster, polyester, …). From the plaster models, bronze casts were formed. Joannis Avramidis consistently and radically interpreted the human figure from inside out, so, in this context, Werner Hofmann could refer to an “opening towards the interior“^[17] practised as of 1957. In this constructive system, which generated artistic transformations of a logical, harmonious order, the emphasis on the vertical central axis, a horizontal classification into separate body segments and the focus on defined contour lines and structured internal lines represented crucial parameters of the artistic design vocabulary. The material used to realise these “didactic plays and construction retreats in regards to and with an eye to the human figure“^[18], however, played a minor role: “I drafted my sculptures in the abstract, i.e. they are not designed in regards to their material. The simplest method of production happened to be plaster, applied on an aluminum frame; therefore, bronze cast is a consequence, a matter of course––it is not a preference, though. […] The composition of the form as such did not have any impact on the chosen material.“^[19]

The key issue of Joannis Avramidis’ artistic oeuvre are the head and the human figure as individuals or as a collective. As a result, Avramidis’ auratic sculptures do without physiognomic differentiation, emotion, gestures or any other individual personal characteristics, they are motionless, reduced to their mere being, without any detectability of their sexuality and not bound to time and space. Avramidis varied the primary concept of the uniaxial pillar figure by rotating the horizontal axes of coordinates and the resulting phase shift in the mathematically strictly constructed, homogenous collective bodies of the sculptural groups (analogous to his method with the heads). “The multi-figure groups with up to 12 individual figures standing tall and compound to a unit, embody the concept of the polis, the Greek city state and hence the concept of democracy […]“^[20]. Another strand of development led Avramidis away from the static uniaxial state to the vertical correspondences of the piled up individual figures in the “Humanitassäule” (pillar of humanity): each figure enters into an alliance that reaches towards the top and the bottom, head meets counter-head, the base meets the respective opposite plinth. With “Schreitender” (the pacer), the human figure in its own motion manifested itself as the pivotal point of Joannis Avramidis’ artistic interest in the mid-1960s. “At the same time, this radical creation of a static figure, culminating in the neglecting of the artistic as such, has triggered my need to follow up with movement.”^[21] The result was a series of so-called “Bandfiguren”^[22] (line of figures), i.e. three-dimensional, dynamic square lines that were moved in an undulating manner in a steady, rectangular section or moved orthogonally through the space. “The origin of the Trojan Horse […], the oddest of all of Avramidis’ inventions, remains a mystery. In the Kaiserslautern catalogue we can see very nicely how this hybrid container for a giant head, that reminds us of the volute at the neck of a violin, emerges from the inclined head […]”^[23] Since 1960, Avramidis has been engaging with the “tree” as a topic, the symbolic relation of shapes between the human figure and the natural growth of the tree“^[24]. This concept must be considered “the great subject matter of the last years”^[25].

In 1973, Joannis Avramidis was decorated with the Grand Austrian State Prize. In his “laudation to a younger colleague“, Fritz Wotruba, Avramidis’ teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts between 1953 and 1956, argued: “I am not familiar with the direct causes that made Avramidis’ work a documentation of harmonious beauty. The concept of ‘beauty’ is somewhat provocative, taboo and it takes a lot of courage to create an idol of beauty in this modern rotten world. To me, his work so far seems more than an attempt; it seems to have succeeded […]”^[26]

Andrea Schuster

^[1] Michael Semff, “Der Zeichner Joannis Avramidis“ (The Illustrator Joannis Avramidis), in: exhibition catalogue “Joannis Avramidis”, Leopold Museum, Vienna 2017, p. 10-19, here: p. 11

^[2] Werner Hofmann, Avramidis. Der Rhythmus der Strenge (Avramidis. The Rhythm of Severity), Munich 2011, p. 133

^[3] Britta E. Buhlmann, “Preface”, in: exhibition catalogue “Joannis Avramidis. Zwischen Körper und Linie. Skulpturen und Zeichnungen“ (Joannis Avramidis. Between Body and Line. Sculptures and Drawings), Museum Pfalzgalerie, Kaiserslautern 2006, p. 7f., here: p. 7

^[4] cf. Ivan Ristić, “Entschieden unpersönlich“ (Decidedly Unpersonal), in: exhibition catalogue “Joannis Avramidis”, Leopold Museum, Vienna 2017, p. 54-63, here: p. 55

^[5] Stephanie Damianitsch, “Unzeitgemäße Betrachtungen: Joannis Avramidis’ Prinzip der Konstruktion“ (Untimely Observations: Joannis Avramidis’ Principle of Construction), in: exhibition catalogue “Joannis Avramidis”, Leopold Museum, Vienna 2017, p. 30-45, here: p. 44

^[6] “It is my ideal that my work depends on time as little as possible; that I could have done my work just as well in any other period, e.g. in the early Renaissance or in Greek archaic.” (Joannis Avramidis, in: exhibition catalogue “Joannis Avramidis”, Leopold Museum, Vienna 2017, p. 215)

^[7] Joannis Avramidis noted: “The comparison with Brancusi […] makes sense.” (Joannis Avramidis, “Answers”, in: exhibition catalogue “Joannis Avramidis”, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover 1967, p. 82)

^[8] The term „royal roan” chosen analogously to Werner Hofmann (cf. Werner Hofmann, Avramidis. Der Rhythmus der Strenge (Avramidis. The Rhythm of Severity), Munich 2011, p. 10) implies two meanings: on the one hand, according to Euclid’s replica, it is a difficult path that can only be taken with effort, on the other hand, it is the shortest and best connection (to various regions; in ancient times reserved only for the king or the pharaoh).

^[9] Joannis Avramidis, “Answers”, in: exhibition catalogue “Joannis Avramidis”, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover 1967, p. 82

^[10] Joannis Avramidis, in: exhibition catalogue “Joannis Avramidis”, Leopold Museum, Vienna 2017, p. 67

^[11] Joannis Avramidis explained: “An absolute figure is created e.g. when I assume absolute symmetry, when I complete a profile four times, from all angles. I can do this; nature does not.” (Annette Reich, “Vom Naturvorbild zur ‘absoluten Figur'”(From the Model of Nature to the ‘Absolute Figure’), in: exhibition catalogue “Joannis Avramidis. Zwischen Körper und Linie. Skulpturen und Zeichnungen“ (Joannis Avramidis.. Between Body and Line. Sculptures and Drawings), Museum Pfalzgalerie, Kaiserslautern 2006, p. 9-16, here: p. 9)

^[12] Joannis Avramidis, “Answers”, in: exhibition catalogue “Joannis Avramidis”, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover 1967, p. 82

^[13] ibid.

^[14] Joannis Avramidis, in: exhibition catalogue “Joannis Avramidis”, Leopold Museum, Vienna 2017, p. 91

^[15] Wieland Schmied, “Notizen zu Avramidis“ (Notes on Avrimidis), in: exhibition catalogue “Joannis Avramidis”, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover 1967, p. 5-14, here: p. 12f.

^[16] Klaus Demus, “Gedanken zum Oeuvre“ (Thoughts on the Oeuvre), in: exhibition catalogue “Joannis Avramidis. Skulpturen und Zeichnungen“ (Joannis Avramidis. Sculptures and Drawings), palace garden, city centre and Kunstverein (art association), Ludwigsburg 1988, p. 13-21, here: p. 18

^[17] Werner Hofmann, Avramidis. Der Rhythmus der Strenge (Avramidis. The Rhythm of Severity), Munich 2011, p. 10

^[18] Otto Breicha, “Von den Grundsätzen eines Grundsätzlichen“ (About the Priciples of a Principle), in: exhibition catalogue “Joannis Avramidis ‘Agora’. Skulpturen und Zeichnungen 1953 bis 1988“ (Joannis Avramidis ‚Agora‘. Sculptures and Drawings 1953 until 1988), Brusberg gallery, Berlin 1989, p. 11-15, here: p. 12

^[19] Robert Fleck, “Vom Nullpunkt der Skulptur“ (About the Origin of Sculpture), in: exhibition catalogue “Joannis Avramidis”, Leopold Museum, Vienna 2017, p. 46-53, here: p. 48

^[20] Annette Reich, “Vom Naturvorbild zur ‘absoluten Figur’” (From the Model of Nature to the ‘Absolute Figure’), in: exhibition catalogue “Joannis Avramidis. Zwischen Körper und Linie. Skulpturen und Zeichnungen“ (Joannis Avramidis.. Between Body and Line. Sculptures and Drawings), Museum Pfalzgalerie, Kaiserslautern 2006, p. 9-16, here: p. 13

^[21] Joannis Avramidis, in: exhibition catalogue “Joannis Avramidis”, Leopold Museum, Vienna 2017, p. 181

^[22] cf. Michael Semff, Joannis Avramidis. Skulpturen und Zeichnungen (Joannis Avramidis. Sculptures and Drawings), Munich 2005, p. 177, p. 181 and p. 255f.

^[23] Werner Hofmann, Avramidis. Der Rhythmus der Strenge (Avramidis. The Rhythm of Severity), München 2011, p. 100

^[24] Michael Semff, Joannis Avramidis. Skulpturen und Zeichnungen (Joannis Avramidis. Sculptures and Drawings), Munich 2005, p. 308

^[25] ibid. cf. Annette Reich, “Vom Naturvorbild zur ‘absoluten Figur’“ (From the Model of Nature to the ‘Absolute Figure’), in: exhibition catalogue “Joannis Avramidis. Zwischen Körper und Linie. Skulpturen und Zeichnungen“ (Joannis Avramidis.. Between Body and Line. Sculptures and Drawings), Museum Pfalzgalerie, Kaiserslautern 2006, p. 9-16, here: p. 15

^[26] Otto Breicha, Fritz Wotruba: Figur als Widerstand (The Figure as Resistance), Salzburg 1977, p. 182