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Sam FrancisFirewood1973
1973
$8,000
£6,042.43
€6,983.31
CA$11,221.22
A$12,480.88
CHF 6,532.23
MX$152,225.62
NOK 82,079.81
SEK 77,206.66
DKK 52,123.63
About the Item
Sam Francis (1923-1994) is one of the most distinctive and collected 20th-century abstract artists.
Francis began painting during convalescence from an injury sustained during a plane crash whilst serving in WWII. Initially used as a distraction, he committed himself fully to painting upon his return to the United states in the mid 40's, pouring his focus in to artistic education. After receiving a Masters in art from UC Berkley in 1950, Francis moved to Paris which would serve a crucial role in helping develop his aesthetic language. By 1953 one of his canvases was included in the MoMA's seminal exhibition "Twelve Artists" which quickly led to his international reputation.
Stylistically, Francis is associated with the second-generation abstract expressionist artists and, to a lesser degree, the Parisian Tachists. Although American, he was not tethered to New York City, instead spending the 1950s as an expat, working and exhibiting in Paris, Mexico City, Japan, and Switzerland. As a result, he does not fit neatly in to the categories normally used to describe post-war abstraction.
With an explosive energy, this screenprint represents Francis' signature style. Featuring a combination of splatters and bimorphic forms executed in primary colours, the composition vibrates with verve. The primary blues, reds, and yellows are applied with slight transparency, emitting new hues as they mingle and overlap. The white space is activated by splatters from the central, cross-hatched lines. Francis' title gives us a hint as to where his mind was when creating the composition--and it's not difficult to see logs stacked; with nascent flames gathering around them.
Impressions of this screenprint are in the collections of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; the Walker Art Center; the Denver Art Museum.
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"Firewood"
USA, 1973
Screenprint in colours on Arches 88 wove paper
Signed by "Sam Francis" and numbered "16/50" in pencil, lower edge
From an edition of 50, with 10 artist's proofs
Published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles with their blindstamps recto and in stamp, verso
Printed by Gary Reams and Robert Knisel
32"H 39.75"W (sheet)
Unframed
Good condition
Literature: Lembark, W. C. (1992). The Prints of Sam Francis: A Catalogue Raisonné, 1960-1990. New York: Hudson Hills Press
Reference: Lembark 1992, no. S15
Provenance: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
- Creator:Sam Francis (1923–1994, American)
- Creation Year:1973
- Dimensions:Height: 32 in (81.28 cm)Width: 39.75 in (100.97 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Good condition. Detailed report available on request.
- Gallery Location:Toronto, CA
- Reference Number:Seller: 06-251stDibs: LU215216634742
Sam Francis
Sam Francis was an American artist known for his exuberantly colorful, large-scale abstract paintings. His practice incorporated elements from Abstract Expressionism, Color Field painting, Impressionism and Eastern philosophy to create a unique style of painterly abstraction.
Influenced by Jackson Pollock and Clyfford Still, Francis is more closely associated to the work of Helen Frankenthaler, as he was more interested in the formal arrangement of the picture plane than the expressivity of the individual artist. “Painting is about the beauty of space and the power of containment,” Francis once reflected.
Born on June 25, 1923 in San Mateo, California, Francis briefly served in the US Air Force during World War II but was injured during a test flight. Returning to California, he received his BA and MA from UC Berkeley in botany and psychology before beginning to pursue a career in art. The artist traveled widely during his career, and he was closely aligned with the Art Informel movement while living abroad in Paris during the 1950s.
Francis died on November 4, 1994 in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 71. He was a founding trustee of Los Angeles’s Museum of Contemporary Art, and his paintings can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Kunstmuseum Basel, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, among others.
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