SAM FRANCIS
The Psychology of Color
Sam Francis (b. San Mateo, California, 1923-1994) remains a celebrated enigma for art historians — not because of some disconnected artistic invention — but rather, because he was an unparalleled bridge maker between ostensibly incongruent movements and a synthesizer of polar philosophies. His works unify the extremes of Abstract Expressionism, combining the Color Field Painting championed by Mark Rothko and the Action Painting of Jackson Pollock, but levitating the mood of his own works far away from those two brooding camps through the use of open space and saturated luminescent color decades ahead of its time.
Sam Francis Red Again (SFS-138), 1972 Screenprint in colors, on Arches Cover paper 24 1/2 x 30 7/8 inches Edition of 100 $9,500
After serving during World War II and spending much of the rest of his young adult life hospitalized with spinal tuberculosis, Francis chose to spend the next decade as an expat, taking inspiration from all he encountered in his far flung travels. Tempering the brashness of American Abstraction, Francis’ work pulls from a heady international stew of Jungian Psychology, Zen Buddhism, the physical European landscape, Mexican textile, and French Modernism. In this way, too, Francis seems more a man of the 21st than the 20th century, and the evidence is on the canvas. Taken in today, thirty years after the artist's death, Francis’ sense of light and color seem quite at home, easily besting the attention-seizing hues of street art, the everglow of advertisement, and the phosphorescence of our all-consuming #aesthetic digital environment. The defiant joy of his prescient color theory and spirit sets Francis apart from his contemporaries and continues to make his practice a favorite with the staff and patrons of Hamilton-Selway Fine Art Gallery.
Sam Francis Untitled (SFE-014), 1984 Aquatint in colors, on Whatman paper 35 x 19 inches Edition of 29 $11,000
Sam Francis Untitled (SFE-029), 1983 Aquatint in colors, on Rives BFK paper 40 x 17 5/8 inches Edition of 25 $12,000
Sam Francis Untitled (SFE-079), 1991 Etching in colors, on BFK paper 47 x 28 inches Edition of 20 POR
Sam Francis Untitled (SF-345), 1991 Lithograph in colors, on wove paper 46 5/8 x 30 inches Edition of 50 POR
SAM FRANCIS Untitled (SF-346), 1991 From Memoire de la Liberté portfolio Lithograph in colors, on wove paper 29 7/8 x 46 7/16 inches Edition of 100 $12,000
SAM FRANCIS Untitled (SF-356), 1992 Lithograph in colors, on wove paper 30 x 47 inches Edition of 50 $12,000
"Painting is about the beauty of space and the power of containment"
- Sam Francis
Sam Francis Untitled (SFE-073RC), 1973 Etching and aquatint in colors, on Fabriano paper 34 3/4 x 39 7/8 inches Edition of 20 $6,500
Sam Francis Untitled (SFE-072), 1989 Monoprint and aquatint in colors, on Rives BFK paper 28 x 29 3/4 inches Edition of 18 $8,000
Sam Francis Untitled (SF-259), 1980 Lithograph in colors, on Rives BFK paper 27 5/8 x 40 inches Edition of 32 POR
Sam Francis Dark Cup (SF-141), 1973 Lithograph in colors, on Rives BFK paper 27 5/8 x 41 1/2 inches Edition of 38 $5,500