Yaacov Agam 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.
1970s Op Art Yaacov Agam Art
Screen
1980s Op Art Yaacov Agam Art
Lenticular, Screen
1980s Op Art Yaacov Agam Art
Lithograph, Screen
21st Century and Contemporary Yaacov Agam Art
Lithograph
1980s Op Art Yaacov Agam Art
Lithograph, Screen
Late 20th Century Abstract Yaacov Agam Art
Paper, Screen
Late 20th Century Kinetic Yaacov Agam Art
Metal
Late 20th Century Abstract Yaacov Agam Art
Paper, Screen
Early 2000s Op Art Yaacov Agam Art
Lenticular
1980s Yaacov Agam Art
Plexiglass, Mixed Media
Early 2000s Abstract Geometric Yaacov Agam Art
C Print
Early 2000s Op Art Yaacov Agam Art
Lenticular
Early 2000s Abstract Geometric Yaacov Agam Art
C Print
Mid-20th Century Yaacov Agam Art
Screen
2010s Abstract Yaacov Agam Art
Mixed Media, Plexiglass, Wood
Mid-20th Century Yaacov Agam Art
Screen
Early 2000s Op Art Yaacov Agam Art
Lenticular
20th Century Op Art Yaacov Agam Art
Screen
Late 20th Century Abstract Yaacov Agam Art
Paper, Screen
1980s Abstract Geometric Yaacov Agam Art
Archival Paper, Permanent Marker
1970s Op Art Yaacov Agam Art
Screen
1970s Yaacov Agam Art
Paper
Early 2000s Op Art Yaacov Agam Art
Lenticular
Late 20th Century Kinetic Yaacov Agam Art
Steel
Late 20th Century Kinetic Yaacov Agam Art
Acrylic
1970s Yaacov Agam Art
Mixed Media
1970s Abstract Geometric Yaacov Agam Art
Paper
1980s Abstract Geometric Yaacov Agam Art
Screen
1970s Kinetic Yaacov Agam Art
Marble, Stainless Steel
Late 20th Century Kinetic Yaacov Agam Art
Mixed Media
20th Century Kinetic Yaacov Agam Art
Paper, Gouache
1980s Op Art Yaacov Agam Art
Screen
1960s Yaacov Agam Art
Screen
1960s Kinetic Yaacov Agam Art
Stainless Steel
20th Century Contemporary Yaacov Agam Art
Mixed Media
20th Century Contemporary Yaacov Agam Art
Other Medium
20th Century Contemporary Yaacov Agam Art
Other Medium
20th Century Contemporary Yaacov Agam Art
Other Medium
20th Century Contemporary Yaacov Agam Art
Other Medium
20th Century Contemporary Yaacov Agam Art
Other Medium
20th Century Contemporary Yaacov Agam Art
Other Medium
20th Century Contemporary Yaacov Agam Art
Other Medium
21st Century and Contemporary Yaacov Agam Art
Lithograph
20th Century Contemporary Yaacov Agam Art
Other Medium
20th Century Abstract Yaacov Agam Art
Lithograph
20th Century Abstract Yaacov Agam Art
Lithograph
20th Century Abstract Yaacov Agam Art
Lithograph
20th Century Abstract Yaacov Agam Art
Lithograph
20th Century Abstract Yaacov Agam Art
Lithograph
20th Century Abstract Yaacov Agam Art
Lithograph
21st Century and Contemporary Kinetic Yaacov Agam Art
Screen
21st Century and Contemporary Kinetic Yaacov Agam Art
Metal, Gold Leaf
20th Century Contemporary Yaacov Agam Art
Silk
20th Century Contemporary Yaacov Agam Art
Silk
20th Century Contemporary Yaacov Agam Art
Silk
1980s Contemporary Yaacov Agam Art
Plexiglass, Paper, Screen
Late 20th Century Modern Yaacov Agam Art
Screen
Late 20th Century Modern Yaacov Agam Art
Screen