Sam Francis

SAM FRANCIS (San Mateo, California, 1923 - Santa Monica, California 1994).
Untitled, 1990.
Acrylic on paper.
Work reproduced in the artist's online catalog raisonné, No. SF90-187.
Presents stamped signature and stamp of the atelier "Estate Sam Francis" on the back.
Provenance: Estate of the artist in Pasadena and private collection.
Measurements: 73 x 48; 98 x 70 cm (frame).
In this work Sam Francis saturates areas of the paper surface with splashes and drips of paint, emphasizing the luminous voids he leaves exposed. This contrast between vibrant, austere color palettes and patches of white emphasizes the relationships of space, color and light. In fact, as the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía points out in relation to the exhibition dedicated to him in 2000: "The burst of color, of great emotional intensity and technical skill, characterized his work in the eighties and accompanied him until the end of his days".
Sam Francis studied botany, medicine and psychology at UC Berkeley in California from 1941 to 1943, and served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II from 1943 to 1945 before being injured in a plane crash. He spent several years in the hospital, and it was during this time that he began painting, at the urging of his friend David Parks, a professor at the San Francisco School of Fine Arts. Once out of the hospital he returned to Berkeley, this time to study art. His studies in painting and art history took him from 1948 to 1950. Francis' early work is directly influenced by the Abstract Expressionists such as Rothko, Gorky and Still. During the 1950s he resided in Paris, where he held his first solo exhibition in 1952 at the Nida Dausset Gallery. During the fifties and sixties he made important personal exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions at the Ribe Droite Gallery (Paris, 1955), Martha Jackson (New York, 1956), Gimpel Fils (London, 1957), the exhibition "New American Painting", which toured eight European cities (1958), the Documenta in Kassel (1959 and 1964) and the Kunsthalle in Bern and Dusseldorf. In 1963 he settled in Santa Monica, California, and six years later he was named Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Berkeley. It was during this period, between 1960 and 1963, that he created several series of works, including the "Blue Balls" series. Consisting of predominantly biomorphic blue shapes and drops, these works referenced the pain that resulted from the kidney tuberculosis he suffered in 1961. He continued to paint, primarily in Los Angeles, but also in Tokyo, where he lived primarily in 1973-4. In 1965 Francis began a series of paintings that featured large areas of open canvas, minimal color and strong lines. His work evolved further after he began an intense Jungian analysis with Dr. James Kirsch in 1971. It was then that he began to pay close attention to his dreams and the unconscious images they suggested.Francis' works from the early 1970s have been called fresh air imagery. Created by adding pools, drips and splashes of color to wet bands of paint applied with a roller, these works reaffirmed the artist's interest in color. By 1973-4, many of Francis's paintings featured a formal grid or matrix composed of cross-hatched traces of color. Many of these matrix works were large in scale, measuring up to twenty feet long.After 1980, the formal grid structure gradually disappeared from Francis's work. He was extremely active as a printmaker, creating numerous etchings, lithographs and monotypes, many of which were executed in Santa Monica at Litho Shop, owned by Francis.In 1984 Francis founded The Lapis Press with the goal of producing unusual and timely texts in visually appealing formats.