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Yaacov Agam Mobiles and Kinetic Sculptures

Israeli, b. 1928

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.

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Creator: Yaacov Agam
Agam Kinetic Space Divider Sculpture Limited Edition Artist Proof & Lucite Stand
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Artist: Yaacov Agam, Israeli (1928-) Title: Space Divider Medium: Polished metal kinetic sculpture Edition: 19/25 Rotates at top Signed on side of piece - Agam on the underside is the number. On stand 47” tall 7” x 7” Piece only 7” wide by 9” by 2 7/8” wide normal tarnish and wear It comes with the magazine cover of the artist and the custom made Lucite base. Artist Biography from the Guggenheim Yaacov Agam B. 1928, RISHON-LE-ZION, PALESTINE Yaacov Agam was born in Rishon-le-Zion, Palestine (now Israel), in 1928, the son of a rabbi and kabbalist, Yehoshua Gibstein. He studied at the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem under Mordecai Ardon in 1946, moved to Zurich and then Paris, and studied at the Atelier d'art abstrait and at the Académie de la grande chaumière. While in Zurich, he met and was influenced by artist and teacher Johannes Itten, who was propagating Bauhaus ideas; he also found inspiration in Vasily Kandinsky's defense of abstraction, ber das Geistige in der Kunst. Insbesondere in der Malerei (On the Spiritual in Art: And Painting in Particular, 1911). His first solo exhibition was at the Galerie Craven in Paris in 1953, entitled Peintures en Mouvement (Paintings in movement), where he showed two series of early work. In one, grids of painted strips that incorporated different designs on opposite sides created images that merged and changed as spectators shifted their viewing position (a type of lenticular print that eventually became known as an Agamograph). In the other, his Transformable Pictures (Images transformables, 1953–61), viewers could manually activate works and rearrange their visual elements. While not the first Optical-Kinetic artist, Agam encouraged spectator participation at a time when such strategies were rare. He exhibited, along with other pioneers of Kinetic art including Alexander Calder and Jean Tinguely, at the Le mouvement (Movement) exhibition at the Galerie Denise René in 1955. He continued to produce abstract, Kinetic work that incorporated light, sound, and viewer participation. He also produced many public commissions, including a moving salon environment at the Elysée Palace in Paris in 1972. In the space, walls were covered with lenticular imagery; transparent doors were included; and a sculpture was placed on a Kinetic carpet. In all, the environment shifted according to the viewer's position. In 1979, Agam was asked to make a work of art to commemorate the peacemaking efforts between Anwar el-Sadat and Prime Minister Menachem Begin...
Category

1970s Vintage Yaacov Agam Mobiles and Kinetic Sculptures

Materials

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Yaacov Agam Shalom Window I Lighted Acrylic Stained Glass Brass Sculpture 21/99
By Yaacov Agam
Located in San Diego, CA
We are pleased to offer this outstanding work of art by famous listed Israel artist Yaacov Agam. The illuminated sculpture is titled "Shalom Window I" and features a silk screened ac...
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Late 20th Century Israeli Yaacov Agam Mobiles and Kinetic Sculptures

Materials

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Sculpture by Yaacov Agam, Entitled "Reflecting Space"
By Yaacov Agam
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A stunning sculpture by Yaacov Agam Isreali, b. 1928 - Entitled "Reflecting Space", 1978.
Category

1970s Vintage Yaacov Agam Mobiles and Kinetic Sculptures

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Yaacov Agam mobiles and kinetic sculptures for sale on 1stDibs.

Yaacov Agam mobiles and kinetic sculptures are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of metal and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Yaacov Agam mobiles and kinetic sculptures, although gray editions of this piece are particularly popular. Prices for Yaacov Agam mobiles and kinetic sculptures can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $3,300 and can go as high as $12,000, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $5,450.

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