Yaacov Agam More Art
Influenced by his upbringing in Judaism as well as the teachings of the Bauhaus, Yaacov Agam is a pioneer of kinetic art as well as the Op art movement and is often credited with introducing geometric abstraction to his home country of Israel.
Born in Rishon LeZion, Palestine — now part of Israel — the son of a rabbi, Agam found that the spiritual world had a major influence on his art practice, as did the sand dunes he grew up watching as they constantly shifted with the wind. This perpetual movement would inform his work, whereby riveting, prismatic compositions that transform from different perspectives, patterns that generate optical effects and sculptures that move with a passing breeze all reflect the gradual changes in nature.
Agam studied with Israeli painter Mordecai Ardon at the Bezalel School of Art in Jerusalem in the 1940s before traveling to Zurich where he trained with Swiss Expressionist painter Johannes Itten and was inspired by the abstract work of Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky.
One of the innovative techniques Agam developed was the Agamograph, which uses lenticular printing so that multiple images, which are revealed as the viewer moves around the piece, can be seen on a single work. His art has regularly involved the spectator as a participant, whether it’s the 1972–74 room-size kinetic installation he created for the Elysée Palace that’s now in the Centre Pompidou in which a gleaming abstract sculpture is surrounded on all sides by polychromatic lines or it’s public art like the 1986 Fire and Water Fountain in Tel Aviv with circles of vibrant panels that offer varying colors from every angle.
In 2018, the Yaacov Agam Museum of Art opened in Rishon LeZion, showcasing six decades of Agam’s influential work that engages with perception through color, shape and form, from paintings, prints and installations to new experiments in interactive digital art.
Find a collection of Yaacov Agam art today on 1stDibs.
1990s Kinetic Yaacov Agam More Art
Printer's Ink
1980s Op Art Yaacov Agam More Art
Lithograph, Offset
1990s Op Art Yaacov Agam More Art
Metal
1970s Abstract Geometric Yaacov Agam More Art
Paper
2010s Abstract Geometric Yaacov Agam More Art
Paper
2010s Abstract Geometric Yaacov Agam More Art
Paper
2010s Abstract Geometric Yaacov Agam More Art
Archival Paper
1970s Op Art Yaacov Agam More Art
Steel
1980s Naturalistic Yaacov Agam More Art
Paper, Ink, Etching
2010s Op Art Yaacov Agam More Art
Plexiglass
1980s Naturalistic Yaacov Agam More Art
Paper, Ink, Etching
1960s Op Art Yaacov Agam More Art
Mixed Media
1980s Naturalistic Yaacov Agam More Art
Paper, Ink, Etching
2010s Street Art Yaacov Agam More Art
Wood, Maple, Mixed Media, Screen, Printer's Ink, Rag Paper, Felt Pen
2010s Op Art Yaacov Agam More Art
Plexiglass
2010s Op Art Yaacov Agam More Art
Plexiglass, Screen
1970s Abstract Geometric Yaacov Agam More Art
Paper
2010s Contemporary Yaacov Agam More Art
Mixed Media
1970s Abstract Geometric Yaacov Agam More Art
Paper
20th Century Op Art Yaacov Agam More Art
Glass, Mirror, Plexiglass, Paper
Late 20th Century Abstract Geometric Yaacov Agam More Art
Lithograph
Late 20th Century Abstract Geometric Yaacov Agam More Art
Lithograph