circa 1980
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.
Stars, Yaacov Agam
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Yaakov Agam (1928) Title: Stars Year: 1989 Medium: Silkscreen on Arches paper Edition: P.P. 3/14, 180, plus proofs Size: 26.5 x 19 inches Inscription: Signed and numbered by ...
Screen
$47,600
H 33 in W 31 in D 1 in
Love Star of David, Abstract Gouache on Paper, Framed, 1978
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Aventura, FL
Original gouache painting on paper. Hand signed lower front by Yaacov Agam. Image size 20.25 x 18.5 inches. Sheet size 29 x 22.2 inches. Frame size approx 33 x 31 inches. Artw...
Paper, Gouache
Abstract Composition
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Missouri, MO
Yaacov Agam "Abstract Composition" Agamograph Ed. 17/25 Signed and Numbered Site Size: approx 13 x 16 inches Framed: approx. 22.5 x 24.5 inches An agamograph is a series of images ...
Screen
2 +3 = 4, 1981
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Palo Alto, CA
Yaacov Agam 2 +3 = 4, 1981 offers another excellent example of the artist’s ability to induce the illusion of movement through color and pattern. By combining a multicolor palette wi...
Mixed Media
An American Portrait, 1976, Yaacov Agam
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: AFter Yaakov Agam (1928) Title: An American Portrait, exhibition poster Year: 1976 Medium: Offset Lithograph on wove paper Size: 27.75 x 19....
Lithograph, Offset
Five Visual Orchestrations, Yaacov Agam
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Yaakov Agam (1928) Title: Five Visual Orchestrations Year: 1990 Medium: Silkscreen on Arches paper Edition: 12/72, plus proofs Size: 30.25 x 42 inches Condition: Good Inscrip...
Screen
UNTITLED
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Portland, ME
Agam, Yaacov, (Jacob Gipstein) (Israeli, b. 1928). UNTITLED. Screenprint in colors, not dated. Edition of 180, signed in blue pencil, and numbered 80/180. 26 3/8 x 33 1/4 inches, 669...
Screen
$6,000
H 19.75 in W 24 in D 2 in
Untitled (signed multidimensional silkscreen print on plexiglass and mirror)
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Aventura, FL
Interspaceograph - multidimensional silkscreen print on plexiglass pane and mirror. There is space between the silkscreen printed plexiglass pane and silkscreen printed mirror in th...
Screen, Plexiglass
UNTITLED
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Portland, ME
Agam, Yaacov, (Jacob Gipstein) (Israeli, b. 1928). UNTITLED. Screenprint in colors, not dated. Edition of 165, signed with marker, and numbered 164/165. 18 1/2 x 47 3/4 inches, 470 x...
Screen
$3,800
H 17.88 in W 22.38 in
Agam Lenticular Kinetic Agamograph Hand Signed numbered Israeli Kinetic Op Art
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Surfside, FL
Yaacov Agam, Israeli (b. 1928) Hand signed, and numbered. Limited edition lenticular lens kinetic Agamograph Titled 'Sea Fathom'. Hand-signed and numbered edition 24/99, size of w...
Lenticular, Screen
Message of Peace, Op Art Geometric Screenprint by Yaacov Agam
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Yaacov Agam Title: Message of Peace Year: 1988 Medium: Silkscreen, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 300, HC Paper Size: 40 x 31 inches
Screen
Color and Space, Abstract Geometric Agamograph by Yaacov Agam
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Yaacov Agam, Israeli (1928 - ) Title: Color and Space Medium: Agamograph, signed and numbered in ink Year: circa 2000 Edition: 10/99 Size: 15 in. x 14 in. (38.1 cm x 35.56 cm...
Lenticular
Image au Carre, Geometric Kinetic Painting by Yaacov Agam
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Long Island City, NY
"Image au Carre" or "Square Image" is an original painting on linen mounted to wood by Israeli Kinetic artist, Yaacov Agam. The painting is signed, titled and dated verso and signed/...
Wood, Acrylic
V from Double Metamorphosis Series, Op Art Screenprint by Yaacov Agam
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Long Island City, NY
V from Double Metamorphosis Series Yaacov Agam, Israeli (1928) Date: Circa 1979 Screenprint on Arches, signed and numbered in pencil Edition of 180 Image Size: 27.5 x 42 inches Size:...
Screen
Union II, Abstract Geometric Screenprint by Yaacov Agam
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Long Island City, NY
Union II Yaacov Agam, Israeli (1928) Unnumbered publisher's proof Date: 1976 Screenprint, signed in pen lower right Image Size: 27 x 22.75 inches Size: 33 x 28.75 in. (83.82 x 73.03 cm)
Screen
Judith L. Posner and Association, Abstract Geometric Screenprint
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Long Island City, NY
Judith L. Posner and Association Poster Yaacov Agam, Israeli (1928) Date: 1980 Screenprint Poster, unique autograph in colored pencil Size: 38 x 23.75 in. (96.52 x 60.33 cm)
Screen
Through collage, painting and printmaking, the artist foregrounded Black life in America in revolutionary new ways.
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