About the artist:
Israeli artist and sculptor, pioneer and leading representative of optical and kinetic art movement.
Yaacov Agam studied at the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem under Mordecai Ardon in 1940-s, moved to Zurich
and then Paris, and studied at the Atelier d'art abstrait and at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere.
Since the beginning of the 1950-s, Agam has shown interest in various kinetic and mechanical elements and the
possibility of using them in the creation of works of art. So later his works arose - sound and tangible pictures
that change from touch, as well as works in which light, sound and water elements are connected, for example,
his kinetic sculpture fountain "Fire and Water", which was located on Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv in 1986.
The creative work of the artist was greatly influenced by the theoretical ideas of V. Kandinsky and Bauhaus and
the mystical symbols of the Bible and Kabbalah.
In 1952, Agam created his first transformable works with parts that could be moved and change place and
position on a panel, thus offering the viewer the possibility of creating innumerable new abstract compositions.
Agam’s great opportunity came in 1953, when he exhibited his new creations at the Galerie Craven, Paris, in his
first solo show. This exhibition, the first one-man exhibition ever held totally dedicated to “Art in Movement”
and described by Agam as his “artistic birth,” immediately made him a focus of public interest, and he soon
became acknowledged as one of the pioneers of the new kinetic art and the greatest virtuoso of the group.
In 1955, Agam was a participant in the first international exhibition of kinetic art in the Denise Rene Gallery in
Paris.
Among the awards Agam has received are a special prize for art research at the Sao Paulo Bienal in 1963 and
first prize at the International Festival of Painting at Cagnes-surmer in 1970.
In the 1960 - 70s Yaakov Agam was the most authoritative master of the Israeli avant-garde art and
performed a number of prestigious state and municipal orders, among them the kinetic composition "The
Thousand Gates" in the garden of the presidential palace in Jerusalem (1972) and the huge musical fountain in
Paris quarter of Defance (1975).
In 1973, Agam had retrospective exhibitions at the Tel Aviv Museum, the Musee National d’Art Moderne in
Paris, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
In 1996, he was awarded the Jan Amos Comenius Medal by UNESCO for the "Agam Method" for visual
education of young children.
Yaacov Agam's works are more often abstract and kinetic. He incorporates elements of light and sound into
many of his works. The viewer is not always passive, but becomes a participant in the work. Large works are
constructions using traditional materials such as steel and concrete. In his printmaking he is a creator of the self-
named "Agamograph". Here Yaacov Agam uses lenticular printing to create radically different perceptions than
those of a usual two-dimensional print.
"My intention was to create a work of art which would transcend the visible, which cannot be perceived except in
stages, with the understanding that it is a partial revelation and not the perpetuation of the existing. My aim is to
show what can be seen within the limits of possibility which exists in the midst of coming into being." - says the
artist about his works.
The artworks by Agam are represented in the collections of many famous museums and are installed in different
cities of the world from Paris to Taiwan. One of his most notable creations is the Hanukkah Menorah at the corner
of Fifth Avenue and 59th Street in New York City, sponsored by the Lubavitch Youth Organization. The 32-foot-
high, gold colored, 4,000 pound steel structure is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the
World's Largest Hanukkah Menorah. It uses real oil lamps, which are lighted every year during Hanukkah with the
aid of cherry-picking machines.
A museum dedicated to the art of Yaakov Agam and presenting his paintings, sculptures and installations, was
opened in his hometown Rishon LeZion in 2017.
