He also visited Constantin Brâncuși, Le Corbusier, and Fernand Léger. In 1952, he returned to the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart and graduated in 1954. The works he chose for his first exhibition in 1956 received heavy criticism, but in 1957 he received the Junger Westen sculpture prize (Recklinghausen), resulting in his breakthrough as an artist. In 1958 and 1960, he exhibited his works at the Venice Biennale. In 1959 and 1964, he took part in the documenta exhibition in Kassel. Subsequently, he took part in many international exhibitions and sold his works to collectors and museums. In 1963, he became one of the founders of the Braunschweig University of Art, where he continued teaching until 1992. Between 2014 and 2015, Cimiotti stopped making bronze sculptures, citing old age. Being over 80 years old, he began a new chapter in his career – papercraft.

To celebrate the artist’s 90th birthday, his works were displayed from 2017 to 2018 in Kunstverein Göttingen, Hanover’s Sprengel Museum, Berlin’s Georg Kolbe Museum, and Neu-Ulm’s Edwin Scharff Museum.