Star of Israel, c. 1975

Yaacov Agam was an Israeli-born sculptor and experimental artist who lived in Paris. He studied at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem before moving to Switzerland, where he attended the Kunstgewerbe Schule. Major influences during this period included his teacher Johannes Itten, as well as the painter and sculptor Max Bill.
Yaacov Agam had two major retrospectives of his work: at the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris in 1972 and at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1980. His large-scale works adorned public spaces in Paris and Tel Aviv, where his Fire and Water Fountain became the centerpiece of Dizengoff Square. His Hanukkah Menorah in New York played an active role in the city's annual Hanukkah lighting celebration.
Yaacov Agam's work was most often abstract and kinetic. He incorporated elements of light and sound into many of his works, inviting the viewer to become an active participant rather than a passive observer. His large-scale sculptures were constructed using traditional materials such as steel and concrete.
In his printmaking, he created the self-named "Agamograph," using lenticular printing to produce radically different visual perceptions from those of a conventional two-dimensional print. As a young artist in Paris, Yaacov Agam exhibited alongside Jesús Rafael Soto, Carlos Cruz-Díez, Pol Bury, Alexander Calder and Jean Tinguely.