VVFA Modern | Artists | Sam (Samuel Lewis) Francis (American, 1923 - 1994)
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An Abstract Expressionist painter known for his brilliant coloration and splotch-like shapes, Sam Francis became one of the most prominent modernist artists of the second half of the 20th century. He was much influenced by Clyfford Styll and Mark Rothko. For a period of time he was part of the Bay Area Abstract group that included Styll, Park, and Richard Diebenkorn. Unlike many of the Abstract Expressionists and the Bay Area Figurative painters, his work was light, colorful and increasingly decorative. In 1950, when his work was gaining national attention, Francis left for Paris, having his first exhibition there in 1952 and remaining there through the 1950s. While there he became associated with Tachisme, and absorbed a love of vibrant color and light from the French Post-Impressionists and early modernists. He later spent time in Japan, where he found inspiration from Zen Buddhism.
His love of color set Francis apart from many of his Abstract Expressionist colleagues, imbuing his work with a sense of joyous enthusiasm that separated it from the chaotic, dark sensibility of much work of the period. Francis’s approach is fully expressed in Untitled, 1988, completed long after his return to California. Fields of pale or deep green form a ground for vibrant, contrasting drips of red, orange and gold. Quick slashes of black paint cross the composition like a fine web, giving the work a joyous energy.
After 1960, Francis was also associated with Color Field painting. An important advocate of the movement, he was included in the defining exhibition of Color Field Painting, Post-Painterly Abstraction, curated by Clement Greenberg in 1964.
Collections:
Museum of Modern Art, NY
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
The Phillips Collection, Washington DC
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC
Tate Gallery, London
Brooklyn Museum of Art
Art Institute of Chicago
Dallas Museum of Art
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Cleveland Museum of Art
Harvard University Art Museums
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA
His love of color set Francis apart from many of his Abstract Expressionist colleagues, imbuing his work with a sense of joyous enthusiasm that separated it from the chaotic, dark sensibility of much work of the period. Francis’s approach is fully expressed in Untitled, 1988, completed long after his return to California. Fields of pale or deep green form a ground for vibrant, contrasting drips of red, orange and gold. Quick slashes of black paint cross the composition like a fine web, giving the work a joyous energy.
After 1960, Francis was also associated with Color Field painting. An important advocate of the movement, he was included in the defining exhibition of Color Field Painting, Post-Painterly Abstraction, curated by Clement Greenberg in 1964.
Collections:
Museum of Modern Art, NY
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
The Phillips Collection, Washington DC
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC
Tate Gallery, London
Brooklyn Museum of Art
Art Institute of Chicago
Dallas Museum of Art
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Cleveland Museum of Art
Harvard University Art Museums
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA
