AGAM, YAACOV
From Birth to Eternity.

From Birth to Eternity.
Oil on angled aluminum on wood. Signed by the artist on reverse. 32 x 36.75 inches; 82 x 93 cm.

Paris, 1969-72.

Israeli-born sculptor and experimental artist, Yaacov Agam is best known for his extensive and innovative contributions to optical and kinetic art. After early studies in Bezalel, it was in Paris where he developed an artistic style known as Op-Art and began utilizing optical illusions and kinetic effects which alter the viewer's perspective as they in turn alter their physical position while viewing the given artwork. A large scale example of this is the iconic Fire and Water Fountain (1986) in Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Square. The present lot similarly shows continuous transformation as one views the piece in a 180-degree arc: The right side starts in solid vertical lines, this changes to individualized colored squares and then to horizontal solids.
     

Provenance: Commissioned directly from the artist, 1972.
     

Exhibited: The Jewish Museum, New York, The Batkin Collection of Israeli Art (1985). Catalogue p. 9.