John F. Kennedy/Abraham Lincoln

Created in 1980, these serigraphs exemplify Jean-Pierre Vasarely’s exploration of modular structures and optical effects, applied to both portraiture and abstraction. In 1980, Vasarely was based in Paris and had already established himself as a second-generation Op art practitioner; building on the legacy of his father, Victor Vasarely (1906–1997), while developing his own approach to “numerical art,” which involved translating images into precise, systematized compositions.

Each work in the set is a limited-edition serigraph, hand-signed and numbered by the artist. In Washington and John F. Kennedy/Abraham Lincoln, Vasarely reduces iconic political figures to geometric matrices, dissolving individuality into pattern and symmetry. By contrast, Sphere and Forme Ronde distill the same visual logic into abstract compositions, exploring spatial illusion and the transformation of flat surfaces into volumetric depth.

Vasarely used layered stencils and carefully applied inks to convert recognizable faces and abstract forms into structured units. The juxtaposition of portraiture and abstract geometry highlights the artist’s engagement with both cultural imagery and mathematical design principles, making this set a compelling example of his printmaking practice. Emerging from the collaborative ethos of GRAV (Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel), which he cofounded in 1960, Vasarely’s art embodies the group’s explorations into the nature of perception. They sought to “activate” the viewer: to make seeing itself an act of discovery and self-awareness.