Sam Francis (1923 - 1994)

A product of the San Francisco Bay area, Sam Francis forged a unique vision of abstraction in the Post-war era that made him one of the most successful painters of the period. Vibrant color was always at the center of his work demonstrating a core belief that color represented something fundamental about emotion and sensation. The early color-field painters like Rothko supplied a framework for his painting, but after moving to Paris for nearly a decade in the 1950s, Francis’ work evolved on a path far different from American abstract painters of the period.

Lyrical and light, the paintings of Sam Francis can be brash and complex or traced with soft mosaics of color. But even the complexity has an emotional component that often seems to speak of a quiet release. Considered one of the premier colorists of the twentieth century, Sam Francis is best known for dramatic, lushly painted works comprised of vivid pools of color, thinly applied.

Success came early in Europe. By 1952, Francis was showing his work in several solo exhibitions and high-profile group exhibitions, such as “12 Americans” at the Museum of Modern Art (1956) and “New American Painting” (1958), and the1959 exhibitions Documenta II and the Bienal de São Paulo in Brazil.

Francis returned to California in 1962, settling at first in Santa Barbara and then establishing a studio in Venice, Santa Monica in 1963.  During the 1960s, the artist developed his own distinctive style of spontaneous and gestural dripping.  He choreographed thin layers of oil, acrylic and watercolors across his canvases with
circling and spraying movements.

The work of Sam Francis is included in the permanent collections of dozens of major museums world-wide, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum, The National Gallery of Modern Art in Tokyo and the Tate Gallery in London.