Yaacov Agam – Jewish Artist (still) celebrated in Paris

The French discovered the room only when the successor of President George Pompidou, moved the room to the museum of modern and contemporary art, the Pompidou Center.

Yes, Valerie Giscard d’Estaing, was not a fan of contemporary art and he made the decision to part form the remarkable room

Agam was both upset and happy. Upset, because his project was moved, but happy that anybody in France, living there or visiting, could now admire his room.

Yaacov Agam

A little introduction of Agam

Yaacov Agam was born in 1828, in the British Mandate Palestine,, Israel today, in the town of Rishin Lezion.

Rishon Lezion means the first of Jerusalem.

The village was founded in 1882 by Jewish immigrants that fled from the pogroms in Russia.

It was a small settlement in the dunes and despite the lack of water, the village succeeded in farming the land.

The Israeli flag of today was first introduced in Rishon Lezion, when they celebrated the 3 year existence of the village in 1885.

And the Israeli national anthem was composed in Rishon Le Zion in 1887.

Yaacov’s family name was Gipstein, but he changed it to Agam, which was his mother’s name.

His father was the Rabbi of the village and Agam received a religious education.

He was impressed by the second commandment that Moses received: it inspired him throughout his career,.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them

When he grew up, he went to the Jerusalem Art school, Betzalel.

Betzalel was founded by Boris Schtaz, who wanted to promote “ Jewish Art’.

The name of the school has a biblical background, as Betzalel is the first artist mentioned in the Torah.

Betzalel was appointed by God, to design the Arc of the Covenant.

In Exodus 31 you can read: See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze,  to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts.

So just like Bezalel, Agam became an artist and the founder of the Kinetic art movement.

In Kinetic art, he introduced moveable, transformable art that expressed the dynamic and unexpected nature of reality.

In Kinetic art the viewer participates actively just by watching the piece of art.

Yes, that is the essence of Agam’s art.

It has 3 dimensions, is extremely colourful, is often mixed with natural elements, like water or other artistic forms, like music.

The most famous pieces of Agam are two fountains, one near Paris, in the business district, La Defense, and the other fountain, in the center of Dizengof square in Tel Aviv.