(San Mateo 1923–1994 Santa Monica)

Untitled. 1966.

Acrylic on paper.

Signed and dated on the reverse: Sam Francis 1966, as well as numbered: 64-045 and S2-10AA. Furthermore with the stamp: The Sam Francis Estate.

73.4 × 57.2 cm.
Minimally trimmed.

This work is recorded in the online catalogue raisonné of the works by Sam Francis under the number: SF64-045.

Provenance:
- Estate Sam Francis, California
- Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago.
- Ace Gallery, Beverly Hills.
- Auction Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris, 21 June 2018, lot 21.
- Purchased from the above by the present owner.

Exhibitions:
- Chicago 2000, Sam Francis. The Edge. Richard Gray Gallery, 29 April - 31 August.
- Beverly Hills 2003, Sam Francis. Edge Paintings. Ace Gallery, Institute of Contemporary Art, 1 March - 28 July.

Literature: Spotlight. In: Art and Auction, 15. April 2000, p. 88 (with colour ill.).

Sam Francis was one of the first artists to establish an international reputation after the Second World War and is today regarded as one of the most profound exponents of Abstract Expressionism. His work was inspired by elements of colour field painting, French Impressionism and Chinese and Japanese influences. Over the course of his artistic career, he produced countless paintings, works on paper and prints that now form part of major museum collections and institutions.

Francis' pioneering approach to colour and light is expressed in energetic abstract colour spectacles, as the present work from the 1960s also illustrates. During this period, Francis went through a phase of intensive travel: after eight years in Paris, he moved to Japan, Mexico and back to the United States. His encounters with foreign cultures, traditions and people had an impact on his artistic development. His time in Japan is particularly noteworthy, as it manifests itself in his œuvre with an opening up of white space. Influenced by Zen Buddhism, Francis adopted the ideas of "empty" and "full" with their origins in Asian ink painting. He preferred the technique of painting on paper - initially for reasons of convenience during a long stay in hospital. Later, for the travelling artist, the medium embodied the constant quest for intimacy and intensity. The question of size thus takes on a secondary importance.

Rich red and blue tones, which almost transcend into black at the upper edge of the picture, delineate the white, trapezoidal area, possibly even taking on the function of a frame. Isolated drops of red and yellow manage to leap into the interior of the composition. The formal interplay between the impasto-like framing colours and the filigree, irregular splashes of paint, lends the picture offered here a liveliness and lightness that attests to the full force of his artistic skills as a prominent exponent of lyrically oriented Abstract Expressionism.