Over the course of his life Reinhold Petermann has managed to create over 300 works of consistently figurative abstract stainless steel and square-cut structures. He was especially inspired by the female body. Numerous watercolours and drawings complete the the oeuvre of this multifaceted artist. Two volumes of poetry have also come into existence from his quill.

This exhibition at the Abguss-Sammlung Antiker Plastik (cast-collection of ancient sculptures) will be the first time that this artist’s works have been introduced to a wide audience in Berlin. To be shown are selected figurative sculptures (female and male bodies as well as animal figures) which represent the main focus of Reinhold Petermann’s creations as well as the entire spectrum of sculptures from 1948 to 2015.

The modern sculptures from Reinhold Petermann are heavily contrasted by casts from the ancient Greek and Roman sculptures. Whilst those depicted by the ancient sculptures and statues are based on reality yet have been idealized and perfected – frequently as athletes and gods – those depicted by Petermann are not idealized or perfected, rather they are shown without filters and full of the joy of life, energy and dynamic – often in every day situations.

This exhibition of contrasts is meant to broaden the view of the classic antiquities and to show the influence that the ancient works have had on the artist who worked for many years as a restorer at the Roman-Germanic Central Museum in Mainz, Germany.