Back to Sam Francis Available Works For Sale American painter and printmaker, Sam Francis (1923 - 1994) is renowned for his California Abstract Expressionist works of art but began his artistic career in Paris in the 1950's. Influenced by Japanese paintings & art, Francis opened up his canvases and began painting what came to be known as his "edge works". Jonathan Novak Contemporary Arthas a wide variety of Sam Francis works of art. Our Sam Francis (SF) inventory includes paintings on canvas, paintings on paper, monotypes, etchings, screenprints, and lithographs from the beginning of Sam Francis' career to the end. Please check with us frequently as our Sam Francis art (inventory) changes often.

Biography Sam Francis (1923 – 1994) Sam Francis was born in San Mateo, California in 1923. He entered the University of California at Berkeley as botany major, then switched to medicine before leaving in 1943 to join the Army Air Corps. During his time in the military he suffered injuries that led to spinal tuberculosis, and began to paint during his period of recovery. Eventually he returned to UC Berkeley to earn his bachelor’s and masters degree in painting and art history in 1949. Francis’ career began in Paris in the 1950’s. His work from this period is airy and light-filled; influenced by Japanese painting, he opened up an empty space in the middle of the canvas and enlarged the scale of his works. Francis’ paintings during the 1960’s began to emphasize the edges of the canvas. During this time he also worked in watercolor and was largely responsible for the revival of color lithography. By the early 1970’s his paintings became more minimal and abstract, and subsequent periods of the 70’s and 80’s are more structured and heavy. Throughout his career he traveled extensively, working and exhibiting in Tokyo, Switzerland, Paris and the United States. In 1962 he settled in Santa Monica, CA and established a lithography workshop there. Sam Francis holds a place in art history as the youngest of the first generation of abstract expressionists. Sometimes considered a second-generation Abstract Expressionist, Francis’ work of the 1950’s and 1960’s was abstract, luminous and painterly rather than gestural. Influenced by the works of Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still, Francis’ “signature” paintings of the early 1950’s are overlays of serial but asymmetrical biomorphic forms saturated with color. In the mid-1950’s, Francis began to paint fields of various sized clusters of cell-like shapes usually in blue, yellow, and red on a white ground. By the late 1950’s Francis concentrated on large mural sized works dominated by white and bordered by colorful clusters of forms. This remained his vocabulary throughout his career but by the 1970’s and 1980’s a greater degree of structure emerged. In addition to monumental and easel-size paintings he produced a significant oeuvre of works on paper and prints. Curriculum Vitae Sam Francis 1923 Born June 25 in San Mateo, CA 1943 - 1948 Served in the United States Army Corps and began painting whilst convalescing from an injury 1949 B.A. University of California at Berkeley, CA 1946 - 1950 Began painting in San Francisco 1950 M.A. University of California at Berkeley, CA 1950 - 1958 Lived and worked in Paris, with travels to Mexico, Japan and Europe 1959 Lived in New York City 1959 - 1961 Lived in Bern, Switzerland 1961 Established permanent home in Santa Monica 1968 Received honorary PhD from University of California at Berkeley, CA 1970 Established the Litho Shop to print his own lithographs in Santa Monica 1973 - 1974 Lived and painted primarily in Tokyo, Japan 1975 - 1977 Began collaborating with Garner Tullis on monotpyes at the Institute of Experimental Printing 1981 Appointed Commandeur de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, by the French Ministry of Culture 1984 Established Lapis Press to publish artists' books 1987 - 1989 Founded the Sam Francis Medical Research Center to support the research of infectious and environmental diseases 1993 Donated ten major paintings to The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles 1994 Honoured with Distinguished Alumnus Award by the University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, which also then created the Sam Francis Scholarship 1994 Died November 4, Santa Monica Selected Exhibitions 2009 "Time & Place: Los Angeles, 1958-1968", Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland 2008 'Choices', Galerie Willy Schoots, Eindhoven 2008 Action Painting, Foundation Beyeler, Riehen 2008 "Time & Place: Los Angeles, 1958-1968", Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden 2007 Grand Gestures: The Gordon F. Hampton Collection, UAM - University Art Museum, Long Beach, CA 2007 Art Market Now, The Columns, Seoulq 2006 Afro & incotri e Confronti italia America, Gallerie d'Arte Moderna di Udine GAMUD, Udine 2005 Intuitive Reflection, Art Forum Ute Barth, Zurich 2005 Austrian contemporary Art and Postwar Painting, Museo de Art Contemporaneo de Monerrey MARCO, Monterrey, NL 2004 Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie, Bielefeld 2004 Galerie Delaive, Amsterdam 2004 Baukunst Galerie, Cologne 2003 Timothy Yarger Fine Art, Beverly Hills, California, Special Proofs, 1963-1989 2003 Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo 2003 Iwaki City Art, Fukushima, Japan 2003 Oita Art Museum, Oita, Japan 2002 - 2003 Galerie Iris Wazzau, Davos, Switzerland 2002 Galerie Andreas Baumgarti, Munich 2002 Lovers Fine Arts, Gstaad, Switzerland 2002 Museum of Modern Art, Toyama, Japan 2002 Kawamura Memorial Museum, Chiba, Japan 2002 Museum of Art, Eime, Japan 2002 University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Michigan 2001 Alan Cristea Gallery, London, in association with Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art 1999 - 2001 Sam Francis: Paintings 1947-1990, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles- travelled to Menil Collection, Texas; Malmo Konsthall, Sweden; the Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain; Galleria Comunale d'Art Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome 2000 Lawrence Rubin, Greenberg, Van Doren Fine Art, New York 2000 Galerie Delaive, Amsterdam, Holland 2000 Richard Gray Gallery, New York and Chicago 2000 Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo and Osaka, Japan 1999 Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Los Angeles; Robert Green Fine Arts, California; Gallery Faurschou, Copenhagen; Ikon Ltd., Los Angeles; Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles; Galerie Pascal Retelet, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Baukunst Galerie, Cologne; Pace Editions, New York; Galerie Loeper, Hamburg 1999 Retrospective: Sam Francis: Paintings 1947-1990, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA 1998 Dorothy Blau Gallery, Florida; Thomas Segal Gallery, Baltimore; ACA Galerie, Münich; Gallery Guy Pieters, Knokke, Belguim; Bobbie Greenfield Gallery, Los Angeles; Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam; Galleria d’Arte il Gabbiano, Rome 1997 Sam Francis: The Archetypal Image, Frederick M. Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University of Malibu – travelled to The Fundación Caja de Madrid, Spain 1997 André Emmerich Gallery, New York; Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles; Museo d’Arte, Mendrisio, Switzerland; Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago; Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam; Galerie Pascal Retelet, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France 1996 Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto; Sogetsu Art Museum, Tokyo; Galerie Delaive, Amsterdam; Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles; Gallery Guy Pieters, Knokke, Belgium; Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin; Galerie Proarta, Zürich 1995 The Last Paintings of Sam Francis at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art 1995 André Emmerich Gallery, New York; Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles; Grunwald/UCLA/Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; 1995 Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, Germany; Les Années Parisiennes 1950-1961 at the Galerie National du Jeu de Paume, Paris 1995 'The Last Paintings of Sam Francis' a group of 152 small paintings (painted June through August, 1994, at the Santa Monica house studio), The Los Angeles County Museum of Art 1994 Honored with Distinguished Alumnus Award by The University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, which also then created the Sam Francis Scholarship 1994 Long Fine Arts, New York; Galerie Delaive, Amsterdam; Bobbie Greenfield Gallery, Los Angeles; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Galerie Proarta, Zurich; Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo; Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago 1993 Retrospective exhibition at Kunst und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, Germany 1993 Galerie Pudelko, Bonn, Switzerland; Bobbie Greenfield Fine Art, Los Angeles; Michele Cohen Gallery, New York; Ochi Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho; Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angels; Galerie Iris Wazzau, Davos 1993 Donated ten major paintings to The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles 1992 Galerie Daniel Papierski, Paris 1992 Museum van der Togt, Amsterdam, Holland 1992 Kukje Gallery, Seoul, Korea 1991 Retrospective at Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, Switzerland 1991 Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; James Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles; Angles Gallery, Los Angeles; Associated American Artists, New York; Gagosian Gallery, New York; Centre Régional d’Art Contemporain Midi-Pyrenées, France 1990 Associated American Artists, New York; GalleryDelaive, Amsterdam; Heland Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm; Ogawa Art Foundation, Tokyo; Ochi Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho; Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh; Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto 1989 André Emmerich Gallery, New York, Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London; Sun Valley Center Gallery, Idaho; Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle; Cantor/Lemberg Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan; Knoedler Gallery, London 1987 - 1989 Founded the Sam Francis Medical Research Center to support the research of infectious and environmental diseases 1988 Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo; Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto; Greenberg Gallery, St. Louis; Galerie Seoul, Korea 1988 Travelling exhibition throughout Japan organized by The Museum of Modern Art, Toyama and Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo, Japan 1987 Knoedler Gallery, London; Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Pamela Auchincloss Gallery, Santa Barbara; Heland Thorden Wetterling Galleries, Stockholm, Sweden; G. Dalsheimer Gallery, Baltimore; Galeria Eude, Barcelona, Spain; Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles; Galerie Pudelko, Bonn, Germany; Lever/Meyerson Galleries, New York 1986 Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Nantenshi Gallery, Toyko; Angles Gallery, Santa Monica; La Mairie de Paris, France 1985 Galerie Kornfeld, Bern; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Nantenshi Gallery, Toyko; Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago; Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto; Hokin Gallery, Florida 1985 National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC 1984 Established Lapis Press to publish artists’ books 1984 André Emmerich Gallery, New York; Pamela Auchincloss, Gallery, Santa Barbara; Brooke Alexander, Inc., New York; Cantor/Lemberg Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan; Robert Elkon Gallery, New York; Thomas Babeor Gallery, La Jolla; Knoedler Gallery, London, UK; Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles; Steven Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco 1983 Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, Switzerland; Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto; Foundation Maeght, Saint Paul de Vence, France; Studio Marconi, Milan, Italy; Colorado State University, Colorado; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Art Attack Gallery, Idaho; John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco; nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo, Japan 1982 Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, Illinois 1981 Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Ace Gallery, Los Angeles; Ruth Schaffner Gallery, Santa Barbara; Faith and Charity in Hope Gallery, Idaho 1980 Riko Mizuno Gallery, Los Angeles; James Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles; Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto; Abbaye de Senanque, Gordes, France; Los Angeles County Museum of Art 1979 Retrospective of works on paper at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston – traveled to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Manila, Korea and Japan under the US International Communications Agency 1979 Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris, France; Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Brooke Alexander, Inc., New York; Art in Progress at Israel Museum, Jerusalem 1979 Gallery of the Cultural Center of the Phillippines, Taipei, Taiwan 1978 Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles; Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles; Musee National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France 1977 Art in Progress at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art at Humlebæk, Denmark – traveled to Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm 1975 - 1977 Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles 1975 - 1977 Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris, France 1975 - 1977 Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York 1975 - 1977 Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, Illinois 1975 - 1977 Galerie Kornfeld und Klipstein, Bern, Switzerland 1975 - 1977 Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto, California 1975 - 1977 Began collaborating with Garner Tullis on monotypes at the Institute of Experimental Printmaking, San Francisco 1974 Minami Gallery, Tokyo, Japan 1974 Idemitsu Art Museum, Tokyo 1972 Retrospective solo museum exhibition at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, which traveled to Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Texas, and Oakland Museum of Art, California. Exhibit at the Stanford University Museum of Art, CA 1969 - 1972 Martha Jackson Gallery, New York 1969 - 1972 Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles 1969 - 1972 Solo shows at André Emmerich Gallery, New York; Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles 1968 Solo museum exhibition at Centre National d'Art Contemporain, Paris and Kunsthalle Basel. Solo show at Minami Gallery, Tokyo 1968 Kunsthalle Basel 1968 Minami Gallery, Tokyo 1967 Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York 1967 Retrospective at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX- traveled to University Art Museum, Berkeley; San Francisco Museum of Art 1967 Snow Painting performance in Naibara, Japan 1966 Sky painting performance over Tokyo Bay, Japan 1961 - 1964 Minami Gallery, Tokyo, Japan 1961 - 1964 Galerie Kornfeld an Klipstein, Bern, Switzerland 1961 - 1964 Galerie Benador, Zurich, Germany 1961 - 1964 Documenta III, useum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany 1961 Esther Bear Gallery, Santa Barbara, California 1960 - 1961 Solo museum show at Kunsthalle, Bern which travels to Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden 1959 Mural commission by the Chase Manhattan Bank 1959 Solo exhibition at Pasadena Art Museum, California which travels to San Francisco Museum of Art, California and Seattle Art Museum, Washington 1958 The Phillips Gallery, Washington, DC 1957 - 1958 Hyakkaten Department Store, Tokyo, Japan 1957 - 1958 Kintetsu Department Store, Osaka, Japan 1957 Gimpel Fils, London 1956 Martha Jackson Gallery, New York 1956 Galerie Rive Droite, Paris 1956 '12 Americans' The Museum of Modern Art, New York 1955 Galerie Rive Droite, Paris 1955 Tendances actuelles de l’Ecole de Paris III at Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland 1952 Galerie du Dragon, Paris Statement "[Sam] Francis regards colour as the world's greatest mystery and believes it has special healing powers. he has always mixed his own paints, partly because it is easier for him to decide what he wants, but also because he can then allow chance to enter into the process, thereby creating unexpected colour combinations. Francis paints with gouache, water colour, acrylics or oils, sometimes applied in combination on paper or canvas. Whatever he paints he uses are strongly thinned so that he can suggest a flowing movement and bring about a transparent effect. The absorbent nature of the canvas is least receptive to the watery paints and thus requires more preparations. On the subject of paper, the material on which Francis began as an artist, he says the following: "(...) paper is real. That's how I felt about it. (...) you have to do everything to make the canvas ready, whereas the paper itself is already complete. So you are adding completeness to completeness when you start. I am adding beauty to beauty. (...) the actual piece of paper already has its own message". ...Francis' most recent paintings are exuberant and expressive use of colour, their splashes, drippings, dots and "controlled chaos" of lines, bands and streaks of paint." -excerpts from the essay "Sam Francis" by Ad Kraan from the book Sam Francis - organized by Museum van der Togt - The Netherlands Press Release Links The Sam Francis Foundation The Painter Sam Francis ~ a Film by Jeffrey Perkins Sam Francis Paintings from the 1970's The Huntington Receives Master Work from Sam Francis Sam Francis books at Arcana Books on the Arts Sam Francis Edge Paintings of the 1960's