concept:era modern
Zebra
Gouache on paper by Victor Vasarely (c.1937-1938). Two intertwined zebra forms in black-and-white stripes where figure and ground merge — a proto-Op Art work anticipating the movement's vocabulary by 25 years. Fondation Vasarely, Aix-en-Provence.
Scholarly Significance
Anchor Op Art with Vasarely's Zebra — proto-Op Art work.
Notes
- ·Made c.1937-1938 while Vasarely was working as a graphic designer in Paris.
- ·Two zebra bodies intertwined so that black stripes of one become white stripes of the other — figure/ground ambiguity as formal principle.
- ·Bauhaus influence: Vasarely's training at the Muhely under Bortnyik emphasized black-and-white tonal relationships.
- ·Widely reproduced as 'first Op Art work' in survey art histories — though classification is retrospective.
- ·Not widely exhibited until the 1960s when Op Art retrospective accounts made it famous.