Michael Argov was born Michael Zinger in 1920, in Vienna. He was a painter and sculptor to a family of Zionist merchants, who moved to Berlin in 1929. In 1933, the family immigrated to Palestine and settled in Haifa. In 1942 he studied at Avni Studio, the major art center in Tel Aviv, where he met Yehezkel Streichman who had a significant influence on Argovs’ work. In 1945, he joined the Streichman art studio and in 1947 Argov had his first one-man show. One of his works from the exhibition was acquired by the Tel-Aviv Museum.
Later in 1947, Michael Argov left for Paris and studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, specializing in fresco painting. While staying in Paris he became very much involved with the artistic scene and in 1951 and 1953 had a one-man exhibition and in 1952 he received the first prize of paintings from Deauville. In 1953 he participated in an Israeli artists exhibition in Paris and won the 2nd prize and in 1955 he won the Othon Friesz Prize. From then onward, he participated in many group exhibitions and one-man exhibitions, spending most of his time in Paris and in Israel.
Throughout his extensive career, ranging from painting to photography and sculpture, Argov was constantly exploring the boundaries of plastic art and the perception of space. His early work included mainly realist figurative painting, focusing on landscape, portraits and female nudes. Studying in Paris during the late 1940s, he was greatly influenced by the “School of Paris” (L’ecole de Paris) and French paintings from the beginning of the 20th century.
Michael Argov died in Tel Aviv in 1982 after a heart operation.