Yaacov Agam Abstract Sculptures
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.
1980s French Modern Vintage Yaacov Agam Abstract Sculptures
Acrylic, Wood
Late 20th Century Israeli Yaacov Agam Abstract Sculptures
Brass
1970s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Yaacov Agam Abstract Sculptures
Acrylic
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Yaacov Agam Abstract Sculptures
Chestnut
1920s French Art Deco Vintage Yaacov Agam Abstract Sculptures
Onyx, Belgian Black Marble, Spelter
1920s French Art Deco Vintage Yaacov Agam Abstract Sculptures
Marble, Bronze
1980s Italian Modern Vintage Yaacov Agam Abstract Sculptures
Murano Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Russian Yaacov Agam Abstract Sculptures
Other, Iron
21st Century and Contemporary American Yaacov Agam Abstract Sculptures
Blown Glass
1970s American Modern Vintage Yaacov Agam Abstract Sculptures
Art Glass
Late 20th Century Organic Modern Yaacov Agam Abstract Sculptures
Bronze
1970s American Modern Vintage Yaacov Agam Abstract Sculptures
Art Glass
1970s American Folk Art Vintage Yaacov Agam Abstract Sculptures
Metal
Late 20th Century American Modern Yaacov Agam Abstract Sculptures
Art Glass
Late 20th Century Unknown Modern Yaacov Agam Abstract Sculptures
Art Glass
1970s Israeli Mid-Century Modern Vintage Yaacov Agam Abstract Sculptures
Brass
1980s American Post-Modern Vintage Yaacov Agam Abstract Sculptures
Metal