Lot 3417* - A201 PostWar & Contemporary - Thursday, 30. June 2022, 05.00 PM
SAM FRANCIS
(San Mateo 1923–1994 Santa Monica)
Untitled.
Acrylic on paper.
With the stamped signature and the estate stamp on the reverse: Sam Francis, "The Sam Francis Estate", as well as with the archive's number: SF85-492, S2-17w.
73 × 47.5 cm.
This work is recorded in the online catalogue raisonné of the works by Sam Francis under the number: SF85-492.
Provenance:
- Christie's Tel Aviv, Auction 20 April 2006, lot 122.
- Purchased from the above by the present owner, since then private collection Northern Germany.
"Painting is about the beauty of space and the power of containment." Sam Francis
In the work by Sam Francis offered here, the broad, impulsive brushstroke of Tachism as a central pictorial element is superbly combined with the dynamic-gestural dripping of Action Painting. The American Abstract Expressionism of Clyfford Still was just as influential as the Tachisme of Jean-Paul Riopelle during his stay in Paris. In a monochrome blue, he achieves a harmonious balance between the strong application of paint and the translucent ground, between containment (of the form) and free development, between flowing colour rivulets and confident, dominant brushstrokes. It is in this dynamic tension that Sam Francis established himself as one of the most important exponents of Action Painting and French Tachism, and through the lyricism of the flowing colour of Asian art, developed a very individual, pioneering style of painting. It is precisely the relationship between form and emptiness that is a recurring painterly theme in his works. He thus followed the non-figurative currents of the post-war period — traumatised by war events and propaganda — to liberate colour and form from narrative. He created his works by placing the picture supports on the floor and applying the paint from all sides, always working beyond the edge of the sheet or a pre-determined section of the picture. The art is thus a direct expression of his emotions and the unconscious, at once personal and universal, a document of his artistic creativity.
Sam Francis gained recognition early on with the purchase of his painting "Black and Red" in 1955 by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, followed by his participation in the 5th Sao Paulo Biennale and documenta II in Kassel in 1959. In 1992 he was commissioned to create a large mural for the German Bundestag in Bonn.
CHF 40 000 / 60 000 | (€ 41 240 / 61 860)
Sold for CHF 49 100 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.