Sam Francis - Agnellini Arte Moderna
Sam Francis - Agnellini Arte Moderna
Sam Francis - Agnellini Arte Moderna
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SAM FRANCIS
SAM FRANCIS
SAM FRANCIS
SAM FRANCIS<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia<br />
21 Aprile / April - 14 Luglio / July 2012<br />
Mostra e catalogo a cura di /<br />
Exhibition and catalogue curated by<br />
Dominique Stella<br />
Roberto <strong>Agnellini</strong><br />
Il catalogo è stato realizzato con il contributo di /<br />
This catalogue has been created with contributions from<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California<br />
Direttore / Director<br />
Roberto <strong>Agnellini</strong><br />
Direttrice artistica / Art director<br />
Dominique Stella<br />
Organizzazione / Organisation<br />
Coordinamento / Coordination<br />
Giancarlo Patuzzi<br />
Segreteria / Secretary<br />
Corinna Turati<br />
Direzione commerciale / Commercial direction<br />
Ugo Ruggeri<br />
Ufficio stampa / Communication<br />
Spaini & Partners<br />
Progetto grafico / Graphic project<br />
Tipografia Camuna S.p.A. - Brescia<br />
Redazione / Editing<br />
Domenico Pertocoli<br />
Traduzioni / Translations<br />
In italiano / To Italian: Silvia Denicolai<br />
In inglese / To English: Timothy Stroud<br />
Fotografie delle opere / Artworks photos<br />
© Fabio Cattabiani<br />
Testo / Text<br />
© Dominique Stella, <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong><br />
Opere / Artworks<br />
© <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California /<br />
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York<br />
Un particolare ringraziamento a /<br />
Special thanks to<br />
Debra Burchett-Lere, <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation,<br />
Director<br />
Linda and Guy Pieters<br />
Famiglia Donati<br />
Si ringraziano inoltre / Thanks to<br />
On. Avv. Adriano Paroli,<br />
Sindaco della Città di Brescia<br />
Avv. Andrea Arcai, Assessore alla Cultura<br />
e al Turismo della Città di Brescia<br />
Lanfranco Cirillo<br />
Armando Donati<br />
Mario Dora<br />
Alessandro Medici<br />
Angelo Medici<br />
Cesare Medici<br />
Ettore Marchina<br />
Roberto Morigi<br />
Marc Pauwels<br />
Roberto Pellizzari<br />
Fabrizio Pivari<br />
Marco Setti<br />
Marinella Spagnoli<br />
Beth Ann Whittaker-Williams<br />
Comune di Brescia<br />
Assessorato alla Cultura<br />
e al Turismo<br />
Copertina / Cover<br />
Progetto di murale per la Chase Manhattan Bank<br />
(particolare), 1959<br />
Study for the Chase Manhattan Bank Mural<br />
(detail), 1959<br />
Pagina 2 / Page 2<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> nel suo studio di Broadway /<br />
in Broadway studio, New York, 1959<br />
Photo Eliane Boardman<br />
© <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California /<br />
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York<br />
La mostra è stata realizzata con il sostegno di /<br />
The exhibition is realized with the support of
Sommario / Contents<br />
9 <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>: il colore per passione<br />
13 <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>: Colour as Passion<br />
Dominique Stella<br />
17 Opere / Works<br />
Apparati / Appendix<br />
85 Notizie biografiche<br />
89 Biographical Notes
Dominique Stella<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>: il colore per passione<br />
Alle pagine precedenti /<br />
Previous pages<br />
Untitled (particolare / detail),<br />
1980<br />
Acrilico su carta / Acrylic on paper<br />
76,5 x 57,5 cm<br />
SF80-1146<br />
© <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation,<br />
California / Artists Rights Society<br />
(ARS), New York<br />
In alto / On top<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> in studio,<br />
Venice, 1989<br />
Foto / Photo by Nico Delaive<br />
© <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation,<br />
California / Artists Rights Society<br />
(ARS), New York<br />
di <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> nasce all’inizio degli anni<br />
Cinquanta in un contesto che vede esplodere<br />
l’espressionismo negli Stati Uniti. L’egemonia<br />
che l’America conquista dopo la seconda<br />
L’arte<br />
guerra mondiale le accorda un’autorità di diritto<br />
che s’impone in arte come in politica e che si manifesta,<br />
in un primo tempo, attraverso la messa in discussione<br />
dei canoni e degli stereotipi nei quali si riconosce l’intellighenzia.<br />
L’esempio europeo non è più di rigore e artisti come<br />
Pollock, Rothko e de Kooning rivendicano una libertà<br />
creativa che sconvolge il comportamento e la mentalità artistica,<br />
rifiutando il soggetto esterno come fonte d’ispirazione<br />
per riconoscere come referente soltanto l’espressione informale<br />
e gestuale che scaturisce dalla profondità dell’essere.<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> è californiano, non appartiene dunque alla<br />
scena newyorchese. Ma anch’egli sviluppa nei suoi dipinti<br />
una nuova estetica del colore, una nuova concezione della<br />
tela, del gesto, che s’inscrive nei vari movimenti della sua<br />
epoca, iniziati e sviluppati da artisti quali Rothko, Pollock,<br />
de Kooning, Kline, più anziani di lui e riconosciuti come<br />
fondatori dell’espressionismo astratto americano. Egli<br />
condivide le idee di questi pittori, che spingono la creazione<br />
lontano dai canoni rinascimentali, considerando la tela<br />
come un territorio di sogno e di espressione. Nessuna figura,<br />
nessuna composizione, ma un vasto campo d’azione<br />
che il corpo accompagna in un gesto ampio e sciolto, favorendo<br />
un lavoro spontaneo cui viene attribuita la formula<br />
“action painting”.<br />
È Jackson Pollock che dà il via a questo movimento negli<br />
Stati Uniti. Le sue grandi tele coperte di colore sgocciolato<br />
o esploso offrono allo spettatore l’opportunità di una riflessione<br />
interiore. La trama complessa dei colori enfatizza<br />
la superficie della tela, così come la stessa tecnica pittorica.<br />
L’occhio non è sedotto da una particolare zona del dipinto,<br />
né sospinto oltre la cornice dell’opera. Vi è ben poca<br />
evidenza esplicita di rappresentazione del mondo dietro<br />
la tela. Il dripping è una tecnica, e la tecnica diventa arte.<br />
Ne risultano opere pittoriche straordinarie, dense di colori<br />
gettati sulla tela in spessi strati di pittura. L’artista dipinge<br />
per terra perché, come dice lui stesso: “Per terra sono più<br />
a mio agio. Mi sento più vicino al quadro, ne faccio parte<br />
maggiormente; in questo modo posso camminarci intorno<br />
ed entrare letteralmente nel quadro.” 1 Non c’è paesaggio né<br />
contesto. “Io sono la natura!” dice Pollock.<br />
Rothko, benché classificato nel movimento espressionista<br />
astratto, rifiuta la definizione fuorviante di action painter.<br />
Per la sua arte, che delimita campi di colore, suona più<br />
appropriato il termine “colorfield painting”; nelle sue tele<br />
monumentali c’è un’ispirazione spirituale e meditativa che<br />
assorbe l’osservatore. La dimensione dell’opera è necessaria<br />
all’espressione pittorica.<br />
A sua volta Willem de Kooning sviluppa una propria tecnica<br />
personale e diventa, insieme a Jackson Pollock, l’emblema<br />
dell’action painting; egli modella la sua pittura a colpi<br />
di spatola o di lama. La sua gestualità comporta colature<br />
e schizzi di colore. L’opera, anche se terminata, ha quindi<br />
un sapore di incompiutezza che l’immaginario dello spettatore<br />
può intendere a modo suo. È così che de Kooning<br />
9
interpreta l’action painting. E a poco a poco questo lavoro<br />
ambiguo affascina e s’impone come un’altra forma di<br />
espressionismo astratto.<br />
Dai suoi predecessori <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> raccoglie la lezione della<br />
colorfield e dell’action painting, prediligendo però Pollock<br />
rispetto a de Kooning o a Rothko. Certo, come molti artisti<br />
degli anni Cinquanta e Sessanta, anch’egli può essere<br />
accostato a tutte queste tendenze del momento: astrazione<br />
lirica, espressionismo astratto, tachisme, action painting,<br />
colorfield painting, altrettante influenze che si ritrovano<br />
nella sua opera senza che nessuna, tuttavia, possa essergli<br />
attribuita in modo esclusivo. Di ognuna egli esplora le<br />
possibilità estetiche e soggettive. E al di là di quel contesto<br />
pittorico, in cui si inserisce perfettamente, il suo percorso<br />
e le sue scelte gli conferiscono una singolarità che lo<br />
contraddistingue.<br />
Nella realizzazione delle sue opere predominano un andamento<br />
e un’esperienza di vita singolari che costituiscono il<br />
fermento di un lavoro originale, segnato dalla rivelazione<br />
intima del colore e della luce; questa gli s’impone in occasione<br />
di un incidente che determinerà le sue scelte in pittura.<br />
Nel 1944, infatti, mentre è arruolato nell’esercito come<br />
aviatore, il suo aereo precipita nel deserto. Un lungo ricovero<br />
in ospedale lo spinge verso una sorta di passatempo<br />
che presto diventerà una passione: l’iniziazione al disegno<br />
e alla pittura, di cui riconosce la capacità salvatrice che gli<br />
permette di ritrovare l’equilibrio e la salute. L’esperienza del<br />
deserto segnerà per sempre il suo immaginario e diverrà la<br />
principale fonte d’ispirazione del suo lavoro. La luminosità<br />
accecante di quelle distese sabbiose a perdita d’occhio<br />
genera spazi infiniti di cui è impossibile scorgere i confini.<br />
Questo sentimento di totale dissoluzione delle forme e<br />
delle tonalità nell’uniformità mutevole del colore della sabbia,<br />
che cattura le minime sfumature di un cielo torrido,<br />
crea la forma specifica della sua arte. Questa è basata sulla<br />
predominanza di uno sfondo pittorico spesso bianco oppure<br />
beige chiaro, sospinto ai confini dell’opera da schegge<br />
di colori luminosi. L’infinita grandezza dello spazio cattura<br />
alle sue estremità la natura incandescente di un’aria schizzata<br />
di luci vibranti.<br />
L’apprendistato della luce passa attraverso un’iniziazione<br />
all’arte che <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>, uscito dall’ospedale, intraprende<br />
studiando arte a Berkeley e poi, nel 1946, a San <strong>Francis</strong>co,<br />
dove segue i corsi di Clyfford Still. Questo pittore lo impressiona<br />
per il suo stile risolutamente “organico”, di cui<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> coglie quella caratteristica indefinibile che rende<br />
Still un maestro dell’espressionismo astratto americano.<br />
Questi considerava la pittura come una fusione: “Non ho<br />
mai voluto che il colore fosse colore – diceva –. Non ho<br />
mai voluto che la texture fosse texture, o che le immagini<br />
diventassero forme. Volevo che tutto si fondesse in uno<br />
spirito vivente.” 2 L’insegnamento di Still maturerà in <strong>Sam</strong><br />
<strong>Francis</strong> un’espressività più lirica, più poetica, pur conservandone<br />
l’essenza fondamentale: la vitalità.<br />
L’Europa rappresenta, in seguito, la seconda tappa della sua<br />
iniziazione. Tra il 1950 e il 1961 egli dimora a lungo a Parigi,<br />
nonostante frequenti soggiorni a New York e in California<br />
e viaggi intorno al mondo tra il 1957 e il ’59 che lo<br />
portano in Messico, India, Thailandia, Hong Kong e Giappone,<br />
dove si ferma diverse volte per lavorare.<br />
La sua prima mostra ha luogo presso la Galerie Nina Dausset<br />
a Parigi nel 1952. I suoi primi lavori monocromi, realizzati<br />
a Parigi, sono nati lontano dall’influenza informale,<br />
ma presto egli si avvicina alla tradizione della colorfield<br />
painting americana, privilegiando nei suoi quadri le tinte<br />
piatte, pur adottando quel “colore suggestivo” che prende<br />
in prestito da pittori come Monet, Gauguin e Matisse<br />
passando per Bonnard. Il ciclo delle Ninfee di Monet,<br />
in particolare, colpisce la sua immaginazione. Ne apprende<br />
l’organizzazione dello spazio pittorico a partire da macchie<br />
colorate giustapposte, componendo una trama vaporosa<br />
che crea un’illusione di atmosfera, pur prediligendo la<br />
superficie piana della tela. La memoria di Monet si avverte<br />
nell’introduzione di valori cromatici intensi, che <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong><br />
applica in accostamenti fluidi colanti in ciocche colorate.<br />
Già nel 1950 dichiarava: “Io faccio del Monet tardivo<br />
sotto una forma pura.” 3<br />
Matisse, al quale si sente umanamente più vicino poiché<br />
condivide con lui l’esperienza della malattia come catalizzatrice<br />
dell’arte, è un altro maestro di cui accoglie la lezione<br />
di un cromatismo contrastato e potente, accentuato da<br />
un’intensa luminosità. <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> ne assimila le innovazioni<br />
in materia di colore e di bidimensionalità, che contribuiscono<br />
alla purificazione della forma e soprattutto del<br />
gesto. Matisse appartiene a quest’area postimpressionista<br />
che concentra la propria ricerca sulla luce, particolarmente<br />
presente in un quadro come Luxe, calme et volupté. Essa<br />
è fondamentale in questa tela, restituita dalla diffrazione<br />
dei colori. In Matisse sfrutta tutte le possibilità del colore:<br />
le sue zone d’ombra sono blu, le luci arancio e rosso; usa<br />
solamente colori vivi, primari: rosso, giallo, blu, e complementari:<br />
arancione, verde e viola; li dispone a modo suo<br />
per far vivere la sua luce.<br />
10 SAM FRANCIS
È questa stessa vibrazione che <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> ricerca: luci e<br />
colori devono emergere dalla tela producendo una sensazione<br />
esplosiva che rappresenti la respirazione del mondo.<br />
Su tele spesso di grande formato prende a prestito e mescola<br />
diverse tecniche: dripping, all-over, tachisme, termine riferibile<br />
al caso della creazione: la forma è tache (macchia)<br />
sottomessa al caso, e nasce spontaneamente. Come Pollock,<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> si concentra esclusivamente sullo sfondo,<br />
escludendo qualsiasi figura. Tende così a semplificare i<br />
suoi piani e realizza un grande lavoro sul colore utilizzando<br />
anche il nero, che considera un “non-colore”. L’artista spinge<br />
all’estremo l’esplosione della figura dando avvio a una<br />
tecnica della dissoluzione. In alcune sue tele questa pratica<br />
giunge a rendere liquida la figura, il che si traduce in colature<br />
verticali di pittura, una sorta di reticolo, di ragnatela,<br />
che collega le forme-macchie tra loro.<br />
Sempre in <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> il colore nasce dallo sfondo, che<br />
può essere bianco o color sabbia, in riferimento al deserto<br />
che aveva segnato il suo immaginario. L’immensità dello<br />
spazio, lo spessore dell’aria assorbita dalla luminosità violenta<br />
del sole che irradia il cielo onnipresente, diventano<br />
fonte d’ispirazione e portano a una costruzione pittorica<br />
che nasce dallo spazio e dall’infinitamente bianco... L’uniformità<br />
della tela bianca, dove il color sabbia si confonde<br />
con il cielo, lo induce a dipingere partendo dallo sfondo,<br />
luogo dell’infinito in pittura. Da lì nasce il seguito del<br />
suo percorso: se l’infinito viene dallo sfondo, allora non<br />
c’è bisogno di dipingere figure, perché ciò che interessa è<br />
“lo spazio tra le cose”. Sopprimendo le figure <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong><br />
sopprime il finito per conservare solo l’infinito; le sue opere<br />
allora non sono altro che un frammento d’infinito che<br />
prosegue ben al di là della tela.<br />
Questa apparente certezza suscita anche una serie di domande.<br />
Il bianco dominante, particolarmente presente nelle<br />
opere dipinte tra il 1957 e il 1961, ricorda la magnificenza<br />
di questo colore che contiene tutti gli altri, ma il cui<br />
valore simbolico resta ambiguo e pone l’immaginazione a<br />
confronto con il grande mistero dell’universo. Domande<br />
fondamentali: questa energia è lo spazio o l’assenza di spazio?<br />
È il pieno o il vuoto? Esprime una nostalgia o un compimento?<br />
Un timore o una speranza? Altrettanti dubbi filosofici<br />
si profilano nella rivelazione dell’opera che l’artista<br />
pone come un enigma. Questo si può risolvere nel riconoscimento<br />
di una forza positiva e vitale emanante dal colore.<br />
Alcuni, come Jean-François Lyotard, vi individuano la<br />
parte dell’ombra, in un saggio dedicato a <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> intitolato<br />
Lezione di tenebre, in cui il filosofo francese illustra<br />
la dialettica del nulla e interroga il nulla. È, evidentemente,<br />
una questione di fede...<br />
A illustrare questa filosofia pittorica in mostra vi è una<br />
grande tela, Senza titolo del 1967, di 240 x 180 cm, che<br />
nasce dalla cornice dipinta contenente il bianco dell’infinito<br />
racchiuso nel contorno dei colori. Enigmatica, concettuale<br />
e gestuale, quest’opera potrebbe intitolarsi “Concetto<br />
spaziale”.<br />
Il coinvolgimento fisico dell’artista nella sua opera, così<br />
come lo spazio creato, libero e aperto, intrinseco alla tecnica<br />
dell’all-over, appaiono come altrettanti elementi che<br />
rimandano alla pittura americana successiva alla seconda<br />
guerra mondiale. <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> adotta un’astrazione lirica<br />
e gestuale senza tuttavia accordare un primato al dinamismo<br />
del gesto. Il suo spazio, attraversato dal colore, diventa<br />
esso stesso colore: “Lo spazio è colore” scrive l’artista.<br />
Per lui il colore è la vera sostanza, il punto di partenza,<br />
che non è né il disegno né la linea. Il lavoro di <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong><br />
è, dunque, basato essenzialmente sul colore. L’uso della<br />
pittura acrilica permette all’artista di realizzare colature e<br />
spruzzi, ma soprattutto rende possibili giochi di trasparenze<br />
che conferiscono alle sue opere una caratteristica luminosità.<br />
Le macchie di colore appaiono allora come schegge<br />
attraversate dalla luce e rivelano una delle preoccupazioni<br />
maggiori dell’artista, “meno interessato al gioco della luce<br />
che alla sostanza di cui è fatta”. 4 Spesso relegate al margine<br />
dell’opera, queste proiezioni di colore assumono l’aspetto<br />
di una cornice e interrogano i limiti della superficie, negata<br />
virtualmente dalla pratica dell’all-over. Costituiscono anche<br />
indici, segni che permettono di circoscrivere la superficie<br />
interna dell’opera.<br />
Lo stesso <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> ha spiegato che egli considerava<br />
“questa zona centrale non come uno spazio vuoto ma come<br />
una forma monumentale, definita da brani di colore<br />
stretti e frammentati ai bordi”. Lungi dal giocare il ruolo<br />
passivo di sfondo, dunque, questo spazio appare come<br />
il soggetto stesso del dipinto. Garante dell’ordine e della<br />
disciplina della composizione, la distesa bianca (o biancosabbia),<br />
né vuota, né sterile, è un luogo di tensione e di dinamismo<br />
che affascina lo spettatore.<br />
Quest’opera è anche tipica del periodo in cui l’artista ha<br />
prolungato i suoi soggiorni nell’atelier di Santa Monica. Il<br />
periodo tra il 1963 e la fine degli anni Sessanta è infatti segnato<br />
dall’esplosione del colore. Esso s’impone nella luce<br />
californiana, brillante e persino accecante, che segna la tela<br />
con le sue schegge luminose. La drammaturgia del rosso<br />
11
si contrappone all’esplosione vitale del giallo e alla pienezza<br />
del blu. Il bianco occupa il centro dell’opera, relegando<br />
il colore ai margini.<br />
Negli anni Settanta l’artista s’interessa all’esoterismo e alla<br />
teoria junghiana dell’inconscio, dipingendo tele più suggestive<br />
e fin quasi più figurative. La sua pittura acquisisce<br />
mistero e magia. La superficie bianca è saldamente delimitata.<br />
Il volume atmosferico non è più veramente vuoto,<br />
ma inquadrato da bande di colori mescolate che ne limitano<br />
l’espansione. S’impone un rettangolo bianco, che<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> chiama “buco dell’infinito”. Un’ansia indicibile<br />
s’insinua nell’opera, ristretta, strozzata attorno a un<br />
punto centrale che cattura l’energia vitale. È in questo periodo<br />
che l’artista realizza la serie delle Pitture mandala,<br />
forme meditative e magiche concentrate attorno a un piccolo<br />
quadrato bianco delimitato da masse colorate, invalicabili<br />
e inquietanti. I mandala sono le porte che conducono<br />
sul cammino dell’inconscio, aperte sulle profondità<br />
insondabili dell’essere. Le opere di <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> conservano<br />
tuttavia un carattere diafano ed etereo, di cui troppo spesso<br />
si dimentica quanto sia il risultato di un instancabile lavoro<br />
formale sulla materia pittorica e il suo supporto. Parlare<br />
di “lavoro” a proposito delle pitture di <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>, dall’aspetto<br />
così fluido e aereo, lungi dall’essere una contraddizione,<br />
appare come l’esito del formidabile corpo a corpo<br />
portato avanti nel corso della sua vita e che gli ha permesso<br />
di conquistare l’immaterialità della sua pittura.<br />
A partire dal 1975 uno dei suoi metodi più abituali consiste<br />
nel reticolare la superficie del quadro in modo uniforme<br />
utilizzando una quadrettatura, per stendere poi la pittura<br />
con il rullo ed eseguire ulteriori ritocchi a mano. Così<br />
la trama racchiude il bianco in un reticolato colorato.<br />
Poi, verso la fine degli anni Settanta e nel corso degli anni<br />
Ottanta, <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> riconquista la pienezza del suo gesto,<br />
ritrovando l’equilibrio organico che congloba l’intera<br />
superficie della tela. La struttura persiste, addirittura si<br />
consolida, come per difendersi dall’abisso delle profondità.<br />
La pittura diventa gestuale e perfino “frivola”, secondo<br />
Lyotard, come se l’artista volesse escluderne ogni drammaturgia,<br />
privilegiando il piacere del gesto che “non impegna<br />
l’animo”.<br />
Questo aspetto della sua opera, l’infinitamente bianco che<br />
già dalle prime tele introduce l’opera di <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> nel<br />
campo analitico e simbolico, così come le molteplici sfaccettature<br />
del suo lavoro sono state oggetto di un saggio di<br />
Jean-François Lyotard pubblicato per la prima volta nel<br />
1992 con il titolo <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>. Leçon de ténèbres: “Like the<br />
Painting of a Blind Man” . 5 Lyotard, famoso soprattutto per<br />
le sue teorie riguardo al postmodernismo e al suo impatto<br />
sulla società, ha analizzato il linguaggio specifico di alcuni<br />
artisti contemporanei in una serie di saggi, dedicati in particolare<br />
a Marcel Duchamp, Karel Appel e <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>. 6 Il<br />
suo linguaggio filosofico rivela l’aspetto complesso e profondamente<br />
spirituale racchiuso nell’arte di <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>.<br />
Le sue riflessioni illuminano l’opera dell’artista californiano<br />
di una luce che mette in rilievo la ricerca di un’immaterialità<br />
contenuta nel soffio quasi invisibile del messaggio<br />
pittorico. Secondo Lyotard “l’opera di <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> rende<br />
omaggio alla meraviglia del visibile e testimonia l’enigma<br />
della visione”. E in queste sue riflessioni poetiche il filosofo<br />
spiega la varietà sottile del significato dei colori nella pittura<br />
di <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>.<br />
La potenza dell’opera di <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> ha trovato un’espressione<br />
altrettanto suggestiva nel lavoro che l’artista ha sviluppato,<br />
nel corso della sua vita, sulla carta: dripping,<br />
all-over, tachisme, trame reticolate s’impongono in modo<br />
altrettanto convincente su un supporto che l’artista ha<br />
sempre usato. Infatti, <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> amava lavorare sulla carta:<br />
questa gli consentiva una maggior libertà e la sua consistenza<br />
fibrosa offriva un supporto che interagiva con la<br />
pittura, conferendo all’opera un aspetto più organico, più<br />
profondo. Diceva infatti l’artista: “La carta è assai più bella<br />
della tela. È più profonda. Mi piace il modo in cui la pittura<br />
scivola nelle sue fibre.” Numerosi esempi di questa tecnica<br />
sono visibili in mostra, sprigionando la loro magia colorata,<br />
esplosiva, vitale.<br />
1<br />
Jackson Pollock, My Painting, in Pollock. Painting, a cura di Barbara<br />
Rose, Agrinde Publications, New York, 1980, p. 65.<br />
2<br />
David Kuperberg, Clyfford Still, The Art Story Foundation, New<br />
York, 2012.<br />
3<br />
Risposta di <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> a una domanda a proposito del suo lavoro,<br />
citata in una lettera di Bernard Schultze ad Annelise Hoyer<br />
dell’agosto 1967.<br />
4<br />
Alain Yver in jazz.blog4ever.com<br />
5<br />
Edizione originale, The Lapis Press, Los Angeles, 1992.<br />
6<br />
Jean-François Lyotard, Writings on Contemporary Art and Artists,<br />
Leuven University Press, 2010. <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>. Leçon de ténèbres / Lesson<br />
of Darkness è il secondo di una serie di cinque volumi che riuniscono<br />
gli scritti più importanti di Lyotard (1924-1998) sull’arte<br />
contemporanea e gli artisti.<br />
12 SAM FRANCIS
Dominique Stella<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>: Colour as Passion<br />
The art of <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> first took form at<br />
the start of the 1950s in the midst of the<br />
explosion of expressionism in the United<br />
States. The power that America had enjoyed<br />
since World War II gave it the authority<br />
to impose its law in art as in politics. This first took<br />
form in the questioning of the canons and stereotypes by<br />
which the members of the intelligentsia recognized one another.<br />
European values and attitudes no longer prevailed<br />
and artists like Pollock, Rothko and de Kooning generated<br />
a creative freedom for themselves that disrupted the established<br />
artistic approach and mentality by rejecting external<br />
subjects as their sources of inspiration, instead recognizing<br />
only informal and gestural expressiveness from deep within<br />
the self as their reference.<br />
As a Californian, <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> was not part of the New<br />
York scene. However, he developed a new aesthetic based<br />
on colour, and a new conception of the canvas and physical<br />
gesture within the different art currents of his period<br />
brought into being by such artists as Rothko, Pollock, de<br />
Kooning and Kline. They were all older than him and recognized<br />
as founders of American abstract expressionism.<br />
He shared their ideas, which rejected the age-old canons<br />
as the origin of the creative act and considered the canvas<br />
as a territory where dreams and expression could be manifested.<br />
Neither figures nor composition were incorporated,<br />
and the canvas was viewed as a vast field of action in<br />
which the artist performed physically using generous, flowing<br />
gestures: the result was a spontaneous form of art that<br />
went by the name of “action painting”.<br />
Jackson Pollock was the initiator of the movement in the<br />
United States. His enormous canvases covered with drips<br />
and explosions of paint prompt the observer to reflect on<br />
what he or she is gazing on. The complex interlacing of colours<br />
emphasizes the surface of the canvas and the pictorial<br />
application of the medium. The eye is not attracted to<br />
any particular zone of the painting, nor directed outside<br />
the frame, and there is little explicit evidence of representation<br />
or reality underlying the image. Dripping was simply<br />
a technique and the technique became art. It produced<br />
extraordinary works dense with colours thrown onto the<br />
canvas in thick layers of paint. Pollock painted his canvases<br />
spread out on the ground because, as he said: “On the<br />
floor I am more at ease. I feel nearer, more a part of the<br />
painting since this way I can walk around it, work from<br />
the four sides and literally be in the painting.” 1 There is<br />
neither landscape, nor context: “I am nature!”, Pollock is<br />
saying to us.<br />
Although Rothko is also classified as an abstract expressionist<br />
artist, he refused the alienating definition of action<br />
painter. His art, based on large fields of colour in monumentally<br />
sized works, was described by the American term<br />
“colorfield painting” and was founded on a spiritual and<br />
meditative inspiration that absorbs the observer into the<br />
painting. Monumentality was a necessary feature of Rothko’s<br />
pictorial expression.<br />
With Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning was a twin emblem<br />
of action painting. He too created his own technique,<br />
carving the paint with a spatula or blade and creating runs<br />
and spurts of colour with his gestures. His finished canvases<br />
aroused a feeling of incompleteness in the observer that<br />
called into action the individual’s imagination. This ambiguity<br />
was de Kooning’s interpretation of action painting,<br />
which gradually came to establish itself as a form of abstract<br />
expressionism.<br />
In relation to the work of his elders, <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>’s output<br />
was most closely linked to that of colorfield and action<br />
painting, and his personal preference was for Pollock<br />
rather than either de Kooning or Rothko. Of course, like<br />
that of many artists during the 1950s and 1960s, <strong>Francis</strong>’s<br />
painting could be related to all the currents of that period:<br />
lyrical abstraction, abstract expressionism, tachism, action<br />
painting and colorfield painting are all reflected in his output,<br />
but without any single one of them being predominant.<br />
He explored the aesthetic and subjective possibilities<br />
that each of them offered. Beyond the pictorial context<br />
that he fell so perfectly within, his development and choices<br />
conferred a uniqueness on his work that distinguishes it<br />
from all other artists.<br />
The process that underlay the production of his works<br />
13
was unique to him and marked by a personal experience<br />
that acted rather like a leavening agent on his creative<br />
method. The event was an accident that came to determine<br />
his pictorial preferences and to reveal to him the<br />
intimate nature of colour and light. In 1944, while a pilot<br />
in the US military, his plane crashed in the desert. A<br />
long period spent in hospital led him to take up drawing<br />
and painting as a pastime but these rapidly turned into a<br />
passion. He later recognized them as the cipher through<br />
which he was able to recover his health and mental stability.<br />
His experience in the desert marked his imagination<br />
for ever and became the major inspiration of his work.<br />
The dazzling brightness of the endless desert sand underlay<br />
the unbounded spaces of his paintings. The unique<br />
characteristic of his production is the sensation given of<br />
the absolute dissolution of form and tonalities within the<br />
shifting uniformity of the sandy colour that captures the<br />
tiny nuances of a torrid sky. His art is based on the predominance<br />
of the ground – often white or light beige in<br />
colour – that drives the bursts of luminous colours to the<br />
edges of the work. The endless grandeur of space captures<br />
in its periphery the incandescent nature of air spattered<br />
with vibrant lights.<br />
The first stage of his apprenticeship in art occurred when<br />
he signed up for art studies at Berkeley, then in 1946 at<br />
San <strong>Francis</strong>co on leaving hospital. His course there was<br />
given by the artist Clyfford Still.<br />
<strong>Francis</strong> was impressed by Still’s resolutely “organic” style,<br />
notably the indefinable novelty of his oeuvre that made<br />
him one of the masters of American abstract expressionism.<br />
Still considered painting to be an amalgamation of elements:<br />
“I never wanted color to be color. I never wanted<br />
texture to be texture, or images to become shapes. I wanted<br />
them all to fuse together into a living spirit.” 2 Still’s teachings<br />
were reflected in the work of <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> in his more<br />
lyrical and poetic expressiveness, while retaining its fundamental<br />
essence of vitality.<br />
The second stage of <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>’s apprenticeship was represented<br />
by the periods of time he spent in Europe. Between<br />
1950 and 1961 he stayed for long periods in Paris<br />
broken by visits to New York and California, and trips<br />
to Mexico, India, Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan between<br />
1957 and 1959, where he stopped on several occasions<br />
to paint. His first exhibition was held at the Galerie<br />
Nina Dausset in Paris in 1952. His first monochrome<br />
works, executed in Paris, were far from informal, but he<br />
very quickly returned to the American colorfield tradition<br />
of large blocks of colour, while also borrowing the<br />
notion of “couleur suggestive” from painters like Monet,<br />
Gauguin, Matisse and Bonnard. His imagination was<br />
powerfully struck by Monet’s cycle of Water Lilies. He employed<br />
the same technique of composing a wraithlike relationship<br />
across the pictorial space between juxtaposed<br />
taches of colour, thus creating an illusion of atmosphere<br />
whilst emphasizing the surface of the canvas. Monet’s influence<br />
is also seen in <strong>Francis</strong>’s use of intense chromatism,<br />
which he applied in fluid juxtaposed taches from which the<br />
colour ran. He is said to have stated in 1950: “I make the<br />
late Monet pure.” 3<br />
Sharing with Matisse the experience of sickness as a catalyst<br />
for art, <strong>Francis</strong> felt he had a close relationship with the<br />
French master. He was influenced by Matisse’s use of powerful,<br />
contrasting colours accentuated by intense brightness<br />
and assimilated Matisse’s innovations in colour and twodimensionality<br />
that contribute to the purification of form.<br />
Matisse was a member of the post-impressionist sphere<br />
that concentrated its research on light, which is especially<br />
evident in Luxe, calme et volupté and made manifest by the<br />
diffraction of the colours. In this painting, Matisse used<br />
dots like deft brushstrokes; the shadows are blue, the lights<br />
orangey and red. He only employed bright, primary colours<br />
(red, yellow, blue) and their complementaries (orange,<br />
green and violet), arranging them carefully so as to<br />
bring life to the light.<br />
It was this same vibration of colours that <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> was<br />
experimenting with; he wanted the light and colour to rise<br />
out of the canvas in an explosive sensation that represented<br />
the process of life in the world. In his often large format<br />
paintings he mixed a variety of techniques: dripping,<br />
all-over and tachism. The name of this last practice refers<br />
to the element of chance in pictorial creation: the tache<br />
(from the French word for “stain”) takes its form entirely<br />
randomly and spontaneously. Like Jackson Pollock, <strong>Sam</strong><br />
<strong>Francis</strong> focused exclusively on the ground, excluding any<br />
figuration. Thus his planes tended to be simplified and his<br />
large works would be based on colour, including black,<br />
which <strong>Francis</strong> thought of as a “non-colour”. He took the<br />
explosion of form to its furthest point and thus initiated<br />
the technique of dissolution. In some of his canvases, this<br />
practice renders figures liquid, which he translated into<br />
vertical runs of paint to create a sort of grid or web that<br />
connects the forms-taches together.<br />
Colour in <strong>Francis</strong>’s works arises from the ground, which in<br />
turn was either white or sand-coloured in reference to the<br />
14 SAM FRANCIS
desert that was so strongly present in his imagination. The<br />
immensity of space and the intensity of the air absorbed<br />
by the intense, omnipresent sunlight became his source of<br />
inspiration and led to a pictorial construction characterized<br />
by space and the infinitely white. The uniformity of<br />
the white canvas, where the white sand merges with the<br />
sky, led him to paint forwards from out of the background,<br />
the place that in painting represents infinity. Logically, the<br />
development from this starting point was that, if infinity<br />
comes from out of the background, then there is no need<br />
to paint figures as what interested him as an artist was “the<br />
space between things”. By suppressing figures, <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong><br />
suppressed the finite, leaving only the infinite. Thus his<br />
paintings are simply a fragment of the infinity that continues<br />
beyond the edges of the canvas.<br />
This apparent certitude also aroused a number of questions.<br />
The dominant and magnificent white – which was<br />
particularly present in his paintings between 1957 and<br />
1961 – reminds us that it contains all the other colours but<br />
that symbolically it is ambiguous and places man’s imagination<br />
in confrontation with the mystery of the universe.<br />
It induces a series of fundamental questions: is the energy<br />
represented by the white space or the absence of space? Is<br />
it filled or empty space? Does it express nostalgia or fulfilment?<br />
A fear or a hope? The creative process in <strong>Francis</strong>’s<br />
paintings gives rise to as many philosophical doubts as the<br />
enigmas that the artist poses himself. These uncertainties<br />
might be resolved in the recognition of the positive and vital<br />
force that emanates from colour. The author Jean-François<br />
Lyotard suggested that the colour in the artist’s paintings<br />
represents darkness, in an essay on <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> titled<br />
Lesson of Darkness, which illustrates the dialectics of nothing<br />
and questions nothingness. Resolution of the uncertainties<br />
is clearly a question of faith!<br />
A large canvas in the exhibition (Untitled, 1967, 240 x 180<br />
cm) illustrates this pictorial philosophy. The work develops<br />
from the outside, from the painted frame that encloses the<br />
white of infinity between the coloured forms: enigmatic,<br />
conceptual and gestural, this painting might easily go by<br />
the title of “Spatial Concept”.<br />
The artist’s physical involvement with the creation of this<br />
work, and the free, open space that is intrinsic to the allover<br />
technique, are both characteristic of American postwar<br />
painting. <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> incorporated lyrical, gestural<br />
abstraction in his work without, however, attributing primary<br />
importance to the dynamism that gesture created.<br />
Shot through by colour, the space itself becomes colour.<br />
He wrote: “Space is color.” For him, color is the true substance,<br />
the starting point that is neither design nor lines.<br />
His work is, therefore, based fundamentally on colour. The<br />
use of acrylics allowed him to create runs and spurts of<br />
paint but, above all, it made possible the assimilation of<br />
degrees of transparency that gave his paintings their luminosity.<br />
The stains of colour take on the appearance of darts<br />
shot through with light and are illustrative of the artist being<br />
“less interested in the play of light than the substance<br />
it is made of” 4 . Often relegated to the edges of his works,<br />
these projections of colour appear like a frame and raise<br />
doubts about the limits of the surface, which is itself virtually<br />
negated by the all-over technique. They can also be<br />
thought of as indices or signs that allow the circumscription<br />
of the internal surface of a work.<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> explained that he considered “this central zone<br />
not as an empty space but as a monumental form, defined<br />
by shreds of color packed and fragmented at the edges”. So,<br />
far from playing the passive role as the background, it becomes<br />
the subject of the painting. Imbuing the composition<br />
with order and discipline, the white (or sandy-white)<br />
expanse, which is neither empty nor sterile, is a place characterized<br />
by tension and dynamism.<br />
This painting is also representative of the artist’s extended<br />
stay in his studio in Santa Monica. His production during<br />
the years from 1963 to the end of the decade is marked by<br />
the outpouring of colour. In the light of southern California,<br />
brilliant and even dazzling colour asserted itself in luminous<br />
flashes on his canvas. The drama of red is countered<br />
by the vital explosion of yellow and the plenitude of<br />
blue. White occupies the centre of the works, pushing colour<br />
to the edges.<br />
During the 1970s <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> became interested in the<br />
Jungian theory of the unconscious and esotericism, with<br />
the result that he began to paint more suggestive and even<br />
figurative works. The act of painting gained in mystery and<br />
magic. The white surface became firmly locked and the atmospheric<br />
volume was no longer really empty but framed<br />
by bands of mixed colours that limit the white’s expansion.<br />
A white rectangle, which <strong>Francis</strong> called the “hole of<br />
infinity”, took centre-stage and this strangled central point<br />
captured vital energy while the locked painting was encroached<br />
upon by an inexpressible anxiety. In <strong>Francis</strong>’s art,<br />
this point marked the representation of the unconscious,<br />
with suffocation and strangulation becoming evident. His<br />
15
series of Mandala Paintings are meditative, magical forms<br />
concentrated around a small white square bounded by tightly<br />
packed, disturbing masses of colour. The mandalas are<br />
doorways that open onto the tunnels of the unconscious<br />
that lead us to the unfathomable depths of our being. His<br />
works, however, continued to be shot through with a diaphanous<br />
and ethereal character that we too often forget is the<br />
result of unflagging formal work on the pictorial matter and<br />
its support. The “work” involved in <strong>Francis</strong>’s apparently fluid<br />
and airy paintings, which is not a contradiction in terms,<br />
represents nothing but the artist’s lifelong tussle with his materials<br />
to conquer immateriality in painting.<br />
From 1975, one of his most commonly used methods was<br />
to create a grid across the surface of the painting and then<br />
pass the paint across the canvas with a roller. The next steps<br />
would be carried out by hand. The framework clasped the<br />
white in a lattice of colour.<br />
Towards the end of the 1970s and during the following decade,<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> recaptured the plenitude of gesture in his<br />
painting and the organic balance that encompasses the surface<br />
of the canvas. The grid structure persists and even hardens<br />
as though to defend itself from the abyssal depths. His<br />
painting became gestural and even “frivolous”, according to<br />
Lyotard, as if the artist had wished to lock out all sense of<br />
drama and emphasize the pleasure of the gesture that “no<br />
longer engaged the soul”. Like the white infinity that introduced<br />
<strong>Francis</strong>’s work into the analytical and symbolic field,<br />
this aspect of his oeuvre, like the multiple facets of his painting,<br />
became the subject of an essay by Jean-François Lyotard<br />
published in 1992 with the title <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>. Lesson of Darkness:<br />
“Like the Paintings of a Blind Man”. 5 A well-known philosopher,<br />
in particular for his opinions on postmodernist<br />
thought and its impact on society, Lyotard analysed the artistic<br />
language of certain twentieth-century artists in a series<br />
of essays, most notably on Marcel Duchamp, Karel Appel<br />
and <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>. 6 Lyotard’s essay reveals the complex and<br />
highly spiritual aspects of <strong>Francis</strong>’s painting and the subtle<br />
variety in his use of colour. His reflections illuminate the artist’s<br />
work and highlights the Californian’s search for immateriality<br />
in the almost invisible breath of the pictorial message.<br />
In Lyotard’s opinion, “the work of <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> pays homage<br />
to the visible marvel and bears witness to the visual enigma”.<br />
The power of <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>’s art found an equally expressive<br />
outlet in the work that he produced throughout his<br />
life on paper, in which the techniques of drippings, allover,<br />
tachism and grids were all employed. <strong>Francis</strong> loved<br />
to work on paper on account of the greater freedom it offered,<br />
and the fact that its fibrous consistency interacted<br />
with the paint to give the finished work a deeper and more<br />
organic quality. He said: “Paper is much more beautiful<br />
than canvas. It’s deeper. I like the way that the paint slips<br />
into the fibres.” The exhibition contains numerous examples<br />
of his paper works, with their explosive, vigorous and<br />
colourful magic.<br />
1<br />
Jackson Pollock, My Painting, in Pollock. Painting, edited by<br />
Barbara Rose, Agrinde Publications, New York, 1980, p. 65.<br />
2<br />
David Kuperberg, Clyfford Still, The Art Story Foundation, New<br />
York, 2012.<br />
3<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> in response to a question about his work. Stated in<br />
a letter from Bernard Schultze to Annelise Hoyer in August 1967.<br />
4<br />
Alain Yver in jazz.blog4ever.com<br />
5<br />
First ed. The Lapis Press, Los Angeles, 1992.<br />
6<br />
Jean-François Lyotard, Writings on Contemporary Art and Artists,<br />
Leuven University Press, 2010. <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>. Leçon de ténèbres /<br />
Lesson of Darkness is the second of a series of five volumes of the<br />
most important texts by Lyotard (1924-1998) on modern art and<br />
artists.<br />
16 SAM FRANCIS
Opere / Works
Senza titolo/Untitled, 1949<br />
Acquarello su carta<br />
Watercolor on paper<br />
30,5 x 24,5 cm<br />
Firmato e datato dall’artista a matita sul retro/Signed with date by the artist<br />
in pencil on verso: “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> 1949”<br />
Timbrato sul retro con il logo/Stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Estate<br />
logo<br />
SF49-075<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2000)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 19 (ill. colori)<br />
18 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, c. 1950-1990<br />
Acrilico, gouache, inchiostro e tempera su carta<br />
Acrylic, gouache, ink and tempera on paper<br />
43 x 35,5 cm<br />
Senza firma né data/Unsigned and undated<br />
Timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/Stamped on verso<br />
with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> logo and facsimile signature stamps<br />
SF50-191<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2000)<br />
Collezione privata, Milano<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia<br />
Collezione privata, Rovigo, Italia<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 21 (ill. colori)<br />
20 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, 1952<br />
Inchiostro su carta<br />
Ink on paper<br />
62 x 49,5 cm<br />
Firmato e datato dall’artista a matita sul retro/Signed with the date by the<br />
artist and inscribed in pencil on verso: “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> 1952 Paris”<br />
Timbrato sul retro con il logo/Stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong><br />
Estate logo<br />
SF52-001<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 23 (ill. colori)<br />
22 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, 1956<br />
Gouache e acquarello su carta<br />
Gouache and watercolor on paper<br />
74,9 x 55,9 cm<br />
Firmato sul retro in penna blu/Signed on verso in blue pen: “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”<br />
SF56-212<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
Gimpel Fils, Ltd., Londra<br />
Private East Coast Collection, USA (1961)<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia (2010)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
MiArt 2011, Milano, 07-11/04/2011, Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, stand<br />
E11, pad. 3<br />
ArtVerona 2011, Verona, 06-10/10/2011, Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>,<br />
stand B16<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “Italia-America. Il Novecento a<br />
confronto”, 24/09-01/10/2011<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 25 (ill. colori)<br />
24 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, 1957<br />
Gouache e acquarello su carta<br />
Gouache and watercolor on paper<br />
94 x 182 cm<br />
Firmato e datato dall’artista sul retro/Signed, with the date by the artist and<br />
inscribed on verso: “Painted by me in 1957 <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”<br />
SF57-063<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
Gimpel Fils Gallery, Ltd., Londra<br />
Collezione privata, Londra<br />
Collezione privata<br />
Collezione privata, Padova<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Tokyo Department Store Gallery, Shibuya, Tokyo, “The adventure<br />
of Today’s Painting: The Art of <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> and Toshimitsu Imai”,<br />
15-20/10/1957; poi Kintetsu Department Store Gallery, Osaka, novembre 1957<br />
Gimpel Fils Gallery, Londra. Collector’s choice VIII, May 1958<br />
Warwick Art Trust, Londra, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> in Britain”, novembre-dicembre<br />
1984, cat. n. 3<br />
Chiostro S. Francesco, Udine, “Afro Italia-America incontri & confronti”,<br />
25/11/2006-18/3/2007, cat. p. 217<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “Opere Grandi Grandi Opere”,<br />
2/10/2010-26/02/2011, cat. p. 59<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 27 (ill. colori)<br />
26 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled (Composition no. 6), 1959<br />
Gouache e acquarello su carta<br />
Gouache and watercolor on paper<br />
67,5 x 101 cm<br />
Firmato sul retro in penna a sfera/Signed and inscribed on verso in ballpoint<br />
pen: “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> #6”<br />
SF59-257<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
Kasmin Gallery, Londra<br />
Collezione privata, San <strong>Francis</strong>co<br />
André Emmerich Gallery, New York<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia (2010)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
USIS Gallery, American Embassy, Londra, “Modern American Painting”,<br />
26/05-10/06/1961<br />
André Emmerich Gallery, New York, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>: The Early Years 1955-<br />
1963”, 10/06-03/07/1986 e 02/09-11/10/1986<br />
André Emmerich Gallery, New York, “Selected Works II from the Gallery’s<br />
Collection”, 27/04-17/05/1989<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 29 (ill. colori)<br />
28 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Progetto di murales per Chase Manhattan Bank/Study for the Chase Manhattan Bank Mural, 1959<br />
Gouache su carta<br />
Gouache on paper<br />
53,34 x 251,46 cm<br />
Senza firma né data; timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma / Unsigned and undated; stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong><br />
Estate logo and facsimile signature stamp<br />
SF59-089<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California<br />
Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles (1999)<br />
American Contemporary Art Gallery, Munich<br />
Neuhoff Gallery, New York<br />
Collezione privata, New York<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia (2010)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
André Emmerich Gallery, New York, <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>: “Paintings on Paper”, 6-29/01/1983<br />
André Emmerich Gallery, New York. “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>: New Work” 8/11-1/12/1984<br />
Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles. “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> in New York 1958-1960”, 1/05-28/6/1997<br />
American Contemporary Art Gallery, Munich. “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>: Works from 1953 – 1969”, 9/10/1998-30/01/1999; exhibition catalogue, p. 8-9 (ill)<br />
Centro Culturale Candiani, Mestre, Italia. “Jackson Pollock: The Irascibles and the New York School”, 23/2/03-30/06/2002;<br />
exhibition catalogue, n°71, p. 151 (ill)<br />
MiArt 2011 – Milano, dal 07-11/04/2011 – Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong> – stand E11 pad. 3<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia. “Italia America il Novecento a confronto”, 24/09-01/10/11<br />
ArtVerona 2011 – Verona, dal 06-10/10/2011 – Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong> – stand B16<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, Italy. “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012, cat. pp. 30-31 (ill. colori)<br />
Pubblicazioni/Publications:<br />
Jackson Pollock: The Irascibles and the New York School, Milan, Italy: Skira, 2002, cat. 71, p. 152, illus.<br />
30 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled (Blue, Black and Green), 1959<br />
Gouache e acquarello su carta<br />
Gouache and watercolor on paper<br />
42,5 x 35 cm<br />
Firmato e datato dall’artista a matita sul retro in pittura blu/Signed, with the<br />
date by the artist on verso in blue paint: “May 1959”<br />
SF59-462<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia (2007)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 33 (ill. colori)<br />
32 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, 1960<br />
Acquarello e acrilico su carta<br />
Watercolor and acrylica on paper<br />
cm. 51,35 x 35,56<br />
Firmato e datato dall’artista sul retro/Signed, with the date by the artist on<br />
verso: “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> 1960”<br />
Timbrato sul retro con il logo/Stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong><br />
Estate logo<br />
SF60-1126<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (1997)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 35 (ill. colori)<br />
34 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, 1960/90<br />
Acrilico su carta<br />
Acrylic on paper<br />
24 x 21,5 cm<br />
Non firmato, datato sul retro dall’assistente/Unsigned; dated on verso by<br />
studio assistant: “1960”<br />
Timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/Stamped on verso<br />
with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Estate logo and facsimile signature stamps<br />
SF60-1143<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (1997)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 37 (ill. colori)<br />
36 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, c. 1960<br />
Acquarello su carta<br />
Watercolor on paper<br />
30 x 20,6 cm<br />
Senza firma né data/Unsigned and undated<br />
Timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/Stamped on verso<br />
with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Estate logo and facsimile signature stamps<br />
SF60-1192<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2003)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 39 (ill. colori)<br />
38 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Santa Barbara (Blue Balls), 1962<br />
Gouache su carta,<br />
Gouache on paper<br />
23,5 x 33 cm<br />
Firmato e datato dall’artista a matita sul retro/Signed, with the date by the<br />
artist on verso in pencil: “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> 1962”<br />
Timbrato sul retro con il logo/Stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong><br />
Estate logo stamp<br />
SF62-035<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2004)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galerie Beyeler, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, Fiera di Basilea 1977; cat. n. 24<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 41 (ill. colori)<br />
40 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, 1963<br />
Acrilico e acquarello su carta, 1963<br />
Acrylic and watercolor on paper<br />
27,5 x 23,5 cm<br />
Firmato e datato dall’artista sul retro/Signed, with the date by the artist on<br />
verso: “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> 1963”<br />
SF 63-322<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (c.1992)<br />
Galerie Wild, Zurigo (1993)<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia (2008)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 43 (ill. colori)<br />
42 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled (Edge Painting), 1967<br />
Acrilico su tela<br />
Acrylic on canvas<br />
240 x 180 cm<br />
Senza firma né data; timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/<br />
Unsigned and undated; stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Estate<br />
logo and facsimile signature stamps<br />
Catalogue Raisonné n. SFF.479<br />
SFP67-20<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam<br />
Baukunst Galerie, Colonia<br />
Collezione privata, Belgio (2009)<br />
Guy Pieters Gallery, Belgio<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Tokyo Central Bijutsukan Gallery, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, con Minami Gallery,<br />
Tokyo, 10-30/05/1968, brochure (no ill.); poi Gutai Pinacotheca Osaka,<br />
02-17/06/1968<br />
Smith Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto, California, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>: Four Decades”,<br />
27/02-23/04/1988<br />
University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley,<br />
“<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>: 1994. Distinguished Alumnus Award Exhibition”,<br />
brochure (no ill.)<br />
Galerie Jean Fournier, Parigi, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>: Edges 1962-1970”,<br />
12/03-30/04/1999<br />
Baukunst Galerie, Colonia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>: Bilder der 60er Jahre”,<br />
08/02-27/03/2001<br />
Fundación Bancaja, Valencia, “La Espiritualidad del vacío/The Spirituality of<br />
the Void”, 02/10/2001-07/01/2002; cat. p. 121 e copertina (ill. colori)<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 45 (ill. colori)<br />
Bibliografia/Literature:<br />
Dedication Kusuo Shimizu and Minami Gallery, Minami Gallery,<br />
Tokyo,1985, cat. p. 70 (ill.)<br />
44 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, 1974<br />
Acrilico su carta<br />
Acrylic on paper<br />
39 x 49 cm<br />
Senza firma né data; timbrato sul retro con il facsimile della firma/Unsigned<br />
and undated; stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> facsimile signature<br />
stamp<br />
SF74-773<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2003)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 47 (ill. colori)<br />
46 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled (Study for Cover to Hilde Kirsch Feschrift), 1977<br />
Acrilico su carta<br />
Acrylic on paper<br />
76,3 x 31 cm<br />
Senza firma né data; timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/<br />
Unsigned and undated; stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Estate<br />
logo and facsimile signature stamps<br />
SF77-138<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2001)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 49 (ill. colori)<br />
48 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, c. 1980/1990<br />
Acrilico su carta<br />
Acrylic on paper<br />
76,5 x 57,5 cm<br />
Senza firma né data; timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/<br />
Unsigned and undated; stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Estate<br />
logo and facsimile signature stamps<br />
SF80-1146<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2000)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 51 (ill. colori)<br />
50 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, 1983<br />
Acrilico su carta<br />
Acrylic on paper<br />
38 x 18,4 cm<br />
Senza firma né data; timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/<br />
Unsigned and undated; stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Estate<br />
logo and facsimile signature stamps<br />
SF83-100<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2004)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 53 (ill. colori)<br />
52 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, c. 1985/1990<br />
Acrilico su carta<br />
Acrylic on paper<br />
39 x 47 cm<br />
Senza firma né data; timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/<br />
Unsigned and undated; stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Estate<br />
logo and facsimile signature stamps<br />
SF85-503<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2004)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 55 (ill. colori)<br />
54 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, 1985<br />
Acrilico su tela<br />
Acrylic on canvas<br />
38,7 x 33 cm<br />
Senza firma; timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/<br />
Unsigned; stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> logo and facsimile<br />
signature stamps<br />
Datato sul retro in rosso dall’assistente/Dated on verso, by studio assistant,<br />
in red: “1985”<br />
Catalogue Raisonné n. SFF. 1192<br />
SFP85-172<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (1999)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
André Emmerich Gallery, New York, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>: Miniatures”, 12/1997<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam, Museum Jan van der Togt, Amstelveen,<br />
“<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>: Remembering 1923-1994”, 8/11/2004-9/01/2005; cat.<br />
pp.104-105, 112 (ill. b/n e col.)<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 57 (ill. colori)<br />
Bibliografia/Literature:<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>, Galleria Il Gabbiano, Roma, 2000; cat. p. 45 (ill.)<br />
56 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, 1985<br />
Acrilico su tela<br />
Acrylic on canvas<br />
71,5 x 21,5 cm<br />
Senza firma né data; timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/<br />
Unsigned and undated; stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Estate<br />
logo and facsimile signature stamps<br />
Catalogue Raisonné n. SFF. 1212<br />
SFP85-32<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2003)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 59 (ill. colori)<br />
58 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, c. 1986<br />
Acrilico su carta<br />
Acrylic on paper<br />
47 x 34 cm<br />
Senza firma né data; timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/<br />
Unsigned and undated; stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Estate<br />
logo and facsimile signature stamps<br />
SF86-809<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2003)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 61 (ill. colori)<br />
60 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, 1986<br />
Acrilico su tela<br />
Acrylic on canvas<br />
111 x 111 cm<br />
Senza firma; timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/Unsigned;<br />
stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Estate logo and facsimile<br />
signature stamps<br />
Datato sul retro con matita colorata dall’assistente/Dated on verso, by<br />
studio assistant, in colored pencil: “top 1986”<br />
Catalogue Raisonné n. SFF. 1321<br />
SFP86-41<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California<br />
Collezione privata (acquistata tramite Bruk Kahan Gallery, Boca Raton,<br />
Florida)<br />
Collezione privata New York<br />
Collezione privata, Roma<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Museum of Modern Art, Toyama, Giappone, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, con Nantenshi<br />
Gallery, Tokyo, 23/04/-19/06/1988, cat. n. 14, p. 50 (ill. colori); poi Museum<br />
of Modern Art, Seibu Takanawa, Karuizawa, 04/08-04/09/1988; Museum<br />
of Modern Art Shiga, 10/09/-16/10/1988; Ohara Museum of Art, Kurashiki,<br />
25/10-27/11/1988; Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, 25/02-26/03/1989<br />
ArtVerona 2009, Verona, 17-21/09/2009, Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>,<br />
stand P4-Q5<br />
ArtVerona 2010, Verona, 14-18/10/2011, Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>,<br />
stand B16<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, “Italia America. Il Novecento a confronto”,<br />
24/09-01/10/2011<br />
Brescia <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong> e Contemporanea, 28/11/2011, Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong><br />
<strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, stand 15/16<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 63 (ill. colori)<br />
62 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, 1987<br />
Acrilico su carta<br />
Acrylic on paper<br />
81,5 x 56 cm<br />
Senza firma né data; timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/<br />
Unsigned and undated; stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Estate<br />
logo and facsimile signature stamps<br />
SF87-141<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2000)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 65 (ill. colori)<br />
64 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, c. 1987-1988<br />
Acrilico su tela<br />
Acrylic on canvas<br />
33 x 24 cm<br />
Senza firma né data; timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/<br />
Unsigned and undated; stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Estate<br />
logo and facsimile signature stamps<br />
Catalogue Raisonné n. SFF. 1523<br />
SF87-184<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2000)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 67 (ill. colori)<br />
66 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled (Red Augusto), 1987<br />
Acrilico su tela<br />
Acrylic on canvas<br />
106,6 x 86,3 cm<br />
Firmato e datato dall’artista con pennarello nero sul retro/Signed, with date<br />
by the artist on verso in black marker: “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> 1987”<br />
Catalogue Raisonné n. SFF. 1457<br />
SFP87-120<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Collezione privata<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2000)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Museun of Modern Art, Toyama, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, con Nantenshi Gallery,<br />
Tokyo, 23/04-19/06/1988; cat. n. 21, p. 56 (ill. colori); poi Museum of<br />
Modern Art, Seibu Takanawa, Karuizawa, 04/08-04/09/1988; Museum of<br />
Modern Art Shiga, 10/09-16/10/1988; Ohara Museum of Art, Kurashiki,<br />
25/10-27/11/1988; Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, 25/02-26/03/1989<br />
Galerie Jean Fournier, Parigi, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>: une exposition pour nos anniversaires”,<br />
16/03-26/04/1991<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>: A Selection of Paintings 1946-<br />
1992”, 18/12/2010-20/02/2011; cat. p.45 (ill. colori)<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 69 (ill. colori)<br />
68 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, 1988<br />
Acrilico su tela<br />
Acrylic on canvas<br />
33 x 24 cm<br />
Senza firma né data; timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/<br />
Unsigned and undated; stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Estate<br />
logo and facsimile signature stamps<br />
Catalogue Raisonné n. SFF. 1521<br />
SF88-266<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Collezione privata<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2010)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>: A Selection of Paintings 1946-<br />
1992”, 18/12/2010-20/02/2011; cat. p. 51 (ill. colori)<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 71 (ill. colori)<br />
70 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, 1988<br />
Acrilico su tela<br />
Acrylic on canvas<br />
33 x 24 cm<br />
Senza firma né data; timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/<br />
Unsigned and undated; stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Estate<br />
logo and facsimile signature stamps<br />
Catalogue Raisonné n. SFF. 1521<br />
SF88-264<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Collezione privata<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2002)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria il Gabbiano, Roma, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, con Manny Silverman Gallery,<br />
Los Angeles, 28/11/1998-febbraio 1999; cat. n. 28 (ill. colori)<br />
Galerie Koch, Hannover, Germania, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>: Werke von 1958-1992”,<br />
4/09-09/10/2010, brochure (no ill.)<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 73 (ill. colori)<br />
72 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, c. 1989<br />
Acrilico su carta<br />
Acrylic on paper<br />
30,5 x 45 cm<br />
Senza firma né data; timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/<br />
Unsigned and undated; stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Estate<br />
logo and facsimile signature stamps<br />
SF89-119<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2003)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 75 (ill. colori)<br />
74 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, 1990<br />
Acrilico su tela<br />
Acrylic on canvas<br />
49 x 28 cm<br />
Senza firma né data; timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/<br />
Unsigned and undated; stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Estate<br />
logo and facsimile signature stamps<br />
Catalogue Raisonné n. SFF. 1645<br />
SFP90-26<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2003)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Page Gallery, Seoul, “The Painter <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, con Galerie Son, Berlino,<br />
03/03-30/04/2011<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 77 (ill. colori)<br />
76 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, 1990<br />
Acrilico su tela<br />
Acrylic on canvas<br />
170 x 134 cm<br />
Senza firma né data; timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/<br />
Unsigned and undated; stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Estate<br />
logo and facsimile signature stamps<br />
Catalogue Raisonné n. SFF. 1634<br />
SFP90-29<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2005)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>: The Unknown Works from<br />
1990s”, 19/11-23/12/2005; cat. p. 68 (ill. colori)<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 79 (ill. colori)<br />
78 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Senza titolo/Untitled, 1992<br />
Acrilico su carta<br />
Acrylic on paper<br />
86 x 76 cm<br />
Senza firma né data; timbrato sul retro con il logo e il facsimile della firma/<br />
Unsigned and undated; stamped on verso with the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Estate<br />
logo and facsimile signature stamps<br />
SF92-102<br />
Provenienza/Provenance:<br />
The Estate of the artist, California (1994)<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam (2005)<br />
Esposizioni/Exhibitions:<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia, “<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>”, 21/04-14/07/2012,<br />
cat. p. 81 (ill. colori)<br />
80 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Apparati / Appendix
84 © <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, California / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
in collaborazione con<br />
Debra Burchett-Lere,<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation ©<br />
Notizie biografiche<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> nel suo studio,<br />
Tokyo, 1974 circa /<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> in his studio,<br />
Tokyo, circa 1974<br />
© <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation,<br />
California / Artists Rights Society<br />
(ARS), New York<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>, nato nel 1923 a San Mateo,<br />
California, è morto nel 1994 a Santa Monica,<br />
California.<br />
Dopo aver inizialmente studiato psicologia e<br />
medicina, in seguito studia pittura con Clyfford<br />
Still, prima di recarsi a Parigi, dove rimane<br />
dal 1948 fino al 1950 frequentando l’Académie<br />
Léger. Nel 1952 tiene la sua prima<br />
mostra personale a Parigi e incontra esponenti<br />
dell’informale francese. Accettato come<br />
esponente della giovane avanguardia<br />
europea, presenta il suo lavoro in diverse<br />
esposizioni a Parigi, Londra e Berna. La partecipazione<br />
a Twelve Americans, mostra allestita<br />
al Museum of Modern Art di New York<br />
nel 1956, lo fa notare anche in America.<br />
Durante questo periodo la sua produzione<br />
passa da composizioni con campiture pittoriche<br />
monocrome a “isole di colori” brillanti<br />
su tele bianche. La sua modalità grafica<br />
di stendere la pennellata e il carattere lirico<br />
del suo colore fluido avvicinano <strong>Francis</strong><br />
all’arte dell’Estremo Oriente, che egli studia<br />
intensamente. Nel 1957 viaggia in India,<br />
Thailandia e Giappone, esponendo a Tokyo<br />
e Osaka.<br />
Dopo irrequieti spostamenti tra Parigi, la<br />
sua città natale e altre grandi città, <strong>Francis</strong><br />
torna in California nel 1962, stabilendosi<br />
dapprima a Santa Barbara e prendendo<br />
poi uno studio a Venice, Santa Monica, nel<br />
1963. Nel corso degli anni Sessanta sviluppa<br />
un proprio stile ben riconoscibile di dripping<br />
spontaneo e gestuale. Lavora stendendo<br />
colori a olio, acrilici e acquarelli sulla tela<br />
e sulla carta con movimenti circolari e creando<br />
effetti di spruzzo. Nelle sue “grid pictures”<br />
degli anni Settanta la superficie pittorica<br />
è coperta con strutture rettangolari.<br />
<strong>Francis</strong> non è solo un illustre esponente<br />
dell’action painting; egli esplora le più varie<br />
tecniche artistiche, come la litografia, l’acquaforte<br />
e il monotipo, e la sua passione<br />
per la grafica d’arte lo spinge nei primi anni<br />
Ottanta a condurre interessanti esperimenti<br />
in questo campo. Caratteristiche di questa<br />
fase sono composizioni espressive suddivise<br />
in più parti, talvolta con colature di vernice.<br />
Negli ultimi anni <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> si impegna<br />
anche in committenze per dipinti murali di<br />
grandi dimensioni.<br />
1946-1958<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> dipinge e studia a San<br />
<strong>Francis</strong>co, in California, dopo che un<br />
incidente aereo e problemi di salute<br />
lo costringono per anni in ospedale.<br />
Si diploma nel 1949 e nel 1950 riceve<br />
il bachelor’s degree alla University of<br />
California di Berkeley. Tra il 1950 e il 1958<br />
vive e lavora principalmente a Parigi,<br />
compiendo viaggi in Messico, in Giappone,<br />
in vari paesi d’Europa e negli Stati Uniti.<br />
1952<br />
Prima mostra personale alla Galerie Nina<br />
Dausset di Parigi.<br />
1955<br />
Mostra personale alla Galerie Rive Droite<br />
di Parigi.<br />
1956<br />
Partecipa alla mostra Twelve Americans<br />
al Museum of Modern Art di New York.<br />
Mostre personali: Galerie Rive Droite,<br />
Parigi; Zoe Dusanne Gallery, Seattle;<br />
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York;<br />
Galerie Ad Libitum, Anversa.<br />
Il “Time Magazine” descrive <strong>Francis</strong><br />
come “il miglior pittore americano<br />
nella Parigi di oggi”.<br />
1957<br />
Viaggia in Giappone e dipinge un murale<br />
per la Sogetsu School di Tokyo. Mostre<br />
personali: Zoe Dusanne Gallery, Seattle;<br />
Gimpel Fils, Londra.<br />
1959<br />
Affitta uno studio a New York e<br />
intraprende la realizzazione di un murale<br />
per la Chase Manhattan Bank di Pasadena,<br />
California. Mostra personale al Pasadena<br />
Art Museum, trasferita poi al San<br />
<strong>Francis</strong>co Museum of Art e al Seattle Art<br />
Museum.<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> sposa la pittrice Teruko Yokoi;<br />
nasce la loro figlia, Kayo.<br />
1960-1966<br />
Vive e lavora a Berna, in Svizzera, durante<br />
un altro periodo di cure in ospedale.<br />
Divorzia da Teruko Yokoi.<br />
Mostre personali: Kunsthalle, Berna,<br />
trasferita poi al <strong>Moderna</strong> Museet,<br />
Stoccolma; Minami Gallery, Tokyo;<br />
Kornfeld and Klipstein, Berna; Galerie<br />
Benador, Zurigo; Esther Bear Gallery,<br />
Santa Barbara. Partecipa a Documenta III<br />
a Kassel, esponendo i pannelli murali di<br />
Basilea.<br />
Nel 1962, dimesso dall’ospedale, torna in<br />
California, soggiornando dapprima a Santa<br />
Barbara e poi a Santa Monica. Acquista<br />
una proprietà e vi progetta un nuovo<br />
studio al 345 di West Channel Road a<br />
Santa Monica, che diventa la sua dimora<br />
permanente. Mantiene anche lo studio di<br />
Parigi finché non viene demolito nel 1983.<br />
Nel 1966 crea la performance Sky Painting<br />
nella baia di Tokyo.<br />
Sposa Mako Idemitsu e nasce il loro figlio<br />
Osamu.<br />
1967<br />
Mostre personali alla Pierre Matisse<br />
Gallery di New York, al Museum of<br />
Fine Arts di Houston, poi trasferita allo<br />
University Art Museum di Berkeley.<br />
Crea un’altra performance, Snow Painting,<br />
a Naibara, in Giappone.<br />
1968<br />
Riceve una laurea ad honorem dalla<br />
University of California di Berkeley.<br />
Mostre personali: Centre National d’Art<br />
Contemporain, Parigi; Kunsthalle, Basilea;<br />
Minami Gallery, Tokyo.<br />
1969-1972<br />
Nel 1969 nasce il terzo figlio di <strong>Francis</strong>,<br />
Shingo.<br />
Crea tele murali per la Nationalgalerie di<br />
Berlino. Mostre personali: Andre Emmerich<br />
Gallery, New York; Nicholas Wilder Gallery,<br />
Los Angeles; Los Angeles County Museum<br />
of Art, Los Angeles; Martha Jackson<br />
Gallery, New York; Felix Landau Gallery,<br />
Los Angeles.<br />
Crea The Litho Shop, Inc. per stampare<br />
e distribuire le proprie opere grafiche a<br />
tiratura limitata.<br />
1972-1973<br />
Mostre personali: Albright-Knox Art<br />
Gallery, Buffalo, trasferita poi alla Corcoran<br />
Gallery, Washington; Whitney Museum<br />
of American Art, New York; Museum of<br />
Fine Arts, Dallas; Oakland Museum of<br />
Art, Oakland; University Museum of Art,<br />
Stanford.<br />
1973-1974<br />
Vive e lavora soprattutto a Tokyo. Mostre<br />
personali: Idemitsu Art Museum, Tokyo;<br />
Minami Gallery, Tokyo.<br />
1975-1977<br />
Mostre personali: Nicholas Wilder Gallery,<br />
Los Angeles; Galerie Jean Fournier, Parigi;<br />
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York;<br />
Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago; Kornfeld<br />
and Klipstein, Berna; Smith Andersen<br />
Gallery, Palo Alto, California. Inizia una<br />
serie di collaborazioni a monotipi con<br />
Garner Tullis.<br />
85
1977-1978<br />
Mostre personali: Louisiana Museum of<br />
Art, Humlebaek, Danimarca, trasferita poi<br />
al Centre Pompidou, Parigi, Liljevalchs<br />
Konsthall, Stoccolma, e Israel Museum,<br />
Gerusalemme.<br />
1978<br />
Mostre personali: Nicholas Wilder Gallery,<br />
Los Angeles; Otis Art Institute, Los<br />
Angeles.<br />
1979<br />
Mostra personale all’Institute of<br />
Contemporary Art, Boston, itinerante poi<br />
a Taiwan, Hong Kong, Filippine, Corea<br />
e Giappone a cura dell’ US International<br />
Communication Agency. Altre mostre<br />
personali: Galerie Jean Fournier, Parigi;<br />
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York;<br />
Brooke Alexander Gallery, New York.<br />
1980<br />
Mostre personali: Abbazia di Senanque,<br />
Gordes, Francia; Los Angeles County<br />
Museum of Art, Los Angeles; Riko Mizuno<br />
Gallery, Los Angeles; James Corcoran<br />
Gallery, Los Angeles; Smith Andersen<br />
Gallery, Palo Alto.<br />
Divorzia da Teruko Idemitsu. È eletto<br />
nel Board of Trustees del Museum<br />
of Contemporary Art di Los Angeles.<br />
1981<br />
Mostre personali: Andre Emmerich<br />
Gallery, New York; Ace Gallery, Los<br />
Angeles; Ruth Schaffner Gallery, Santa<br />
Barbara, California. Allestisce uno<br />
studio temporaneo a San Leandro,<br />
California, per dipingere un murale<br />
per il San <strong>Francis</strong>co Museum of Art.<br />
1982<br />
Mostre personali: Andre Emmerich<br />
Gallery, New York; Nantenshi Gallery,<br />
Tokyo; Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago.<br />
1983<br />
Crea un murale per l’aeroporto di San<br />
<strong>Francis</strong>co. Mostre personali: Andre<br />
Emmerich Gallery, New York; Galerie<br />
Kornfeld, Berna; Smith Andersen Gallery,<br />
Palo Alto; Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul de<br />
Vence; Studio Marconi, Milano; Colorado<br />
State University, Fort Collins; Galerie Jean<br />
Fournier, Parigi; John Berggruen Gallery,<br />
San <strong>Francis</strong>co; Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo.<br />
È nominato “Commandeur de l’Ordre des<br />
Arts et des Lettres” dallo Stato francese.<br />
1984<br />
Fonda la Lapis Press. Mostre personali:<br />
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York;<br />
Cantor-Lemberg Gallery, Birmingham,<br />
Michigan; Robert Elkon Gallery, New<br />
York; Knoedler Gallery, Londra.<br />
1985<br />
Mostre personali: Galerie Kornfeld, Berna;<br />
Galerie Jean Fournier, Parigi; Nantenshi<br />
Gallery, Tokyo; Richard Gray Gallery,<br />
Chicago. Completa il murale per<br />
il San <strong>Francis</strong>co Museum of Art.<br />
Sposa Margaret Smith in Giappone.<br />
1986<br />
Mostre personali: Andre Emmerich<br />
Gallery, New York; Galerie Jean Fournier,<br />
Parigi; Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo. Gli viene<br />
commissionato un dipinto murale per<br />
il soffitto dell’Opéra Nationale, Théâtre<br />
Royal de la Monnaie, Bruxelles.<br />
Nascita del quarto figlio, Augustus.<br />
Acquista uno studio a Palo Alto, ma tiene<br />
anche lo studio di Santa Monica.<br />
1987<br />
Mostre personali: Knoedler Gallery,<br />
Londra; Andre Emmerich Gallery, New<br />
York; Pamela Auchincloss Gallery, Santa<br />
Barbara; Heland Thorden Wetterling<br />
Galleries, Stoccolma; Manny Silverman<br />
Gallery, Los Angeles; Galerie Pudelko,<br />
Bonn.<br />
1988<br />
Mostre personali: Andre Emmerich<br />
Gallery, New York; Galerie Jean Fournier,<br />
Parigi; Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo; Smith<br />
Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto; Greenberg<br />
Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri; National<br />
Gallery, Seul; Toyama Museum, Giappone,<br />
itinerante poi a Seibu, Takanawa,<br />
Karuizawa, Shiga, Ohara, Murashiki,<br />
Setagaya, Tokyo.<br />
1989<br />
Mostre personali: Andre Emmerich<br />
Gallery, New York; Galerie Jean Fournier,<br />
Parigi; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, Londra;<br />
Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle; Knoedler<br />
Gallery, Londra. Lavora a Manchester,<br />
in Inghilterra.<br />
1990<br />
Mostre personali: Associated American<br />
Artists, New York; Gallery Delaive ,<br />
Amsterdam; Heland Wetterling Gallery,<br />
Stoccolma; Ogawa Art Foundation, Tokyo;<br />
Talbot Rice Gallery, Edimburgo. Acquista<br />
una proprietà e affitta uno studio nella<br />
California settentrionale, a Pt. Reyes<br />
Station. Continua a tenere gli atelier<br />
di Santa Monica e Venice.<br />
1991<br />
Mostre personali: Galerie Kornfeld, Berna,<br />
Galerie Jean Fournier, Parigi; James<br />
Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles; Gagosian<br />
Gallery, New York; Centre Regional d’Art<br />
Contemporain Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse<br />
Labège, Francia.<br />
1992<br />
Mostre personali: Galerie Daniel Papierski,<br />
Parigi; Museum van der Togt, Amsterdam;<br />
Kukje Gallery, Seul. Pubblicazione di<br />
The Prints of <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>. A Catalogue<br />
Raisonné a cura di Connie Lembark,<br />
edito da Hudson Hills Press.<br />
1993<br />
Mostre personali: Kunst- und<br />
Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik<br />
Deutschland, Bonn; Galerie Pudelko,<br />
Bonn; Bobbie Greenfield Gallery, Venice;<br />
Michel Cohen Gallery, New York; Ochi<br />
Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho; Manny Silverman<br />
Gallery, Los Angeles; Galerie Iris Wazzau,<br />
Davos; Museum of Contemporary Art,<br />
Los Angeles. Gli viene commissionato<br />
un importante dipinto per il Parlamento<br />
tedesco a Bonn. Dona dieci opere<br />
al Museum of Contemporary Art<br />
di Los Angeles.<br />
1994<br />
Mostre personali: Long Fine Art, New<br />
York; Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam; Bobbie<br />
Greenfield Gallery, Venice; Galerie Jean<br />
Fournier, Parigi; Galerie Proarta, Zurigo;<br />
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York;<br />
Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo; Richard Gray<br />
Gallery, Chicago; University Art Museum,<br />
University of California, Berkeley; Galerie<br />
Kornfeld, Berna. Daco-Verlag Günter Bläse<br />
di Stoccarda pubblica un’ampia monografia<br />
sui monotipi di <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>. Riceve il<br />
“Distinguished Alumnus Award” dalla<br />
University of California, Berkeley.<br />
L’artista muore a Santa Monica, California.<br />
Dopo la sua morte viene fondata la <strong>Sam</strong>uel<br />
L. <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation, Inc. (conosciuta<br />
anche come <strong>Sam</strong>uel L. <strong>Francis</strong> Art<br />
Museum, Inc. o <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation)<br />
che si occupa non solo dei diritti legali,<br />
ma anche di “studiare, documentare,<br />
proteggere e perpetuare il suo lascito<br />
creativo”. Ogni anno si tengono numerose<br />
mostre di <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> in tutto il mondo<br />
(circa un centinaio tra il 1994 e il 2010)<br />
e il suo lavoro continua a riscuotere<br />
grande successo.<br />
Tra le principali mostre personali:<br />
1995<br />
Los Angeles County Museum of Art,<br />
Los Angeles; Andre Emmerich Gallery,<br />
New York; Manny Silverman Gallery,<br />
Los Angeles; Grunwald/UCLA/Armand<br />
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles;<br />
Kunstverein Ludwigsberg, Francoforte;<br />
Musée du Jeu de Paume, Parigi.<br />
1996<br />
Smith Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto;<br />
Sogetsu Art Museum, Tokyo; Gallery<br />
Delaive , Amsterdam; Gagosian Gallery,<br />
Beverly Hills; Guy Pieters Gallery, Knokke;<br />
86 SAM FRANCIS
Galerie Michael Haas, Berlino; Galerie<br />
Proarta, Zurigo.<br />
1997<br />
Frederick M. Weisman Museum of Art,<br />
Pepperdine University, Malibu, trasferita<br />
poi ampliata alla Fundación Caja de Madrid<br />
in Spagna; Andre Emmerich Gallery,<br />
New York; Manny Silverman Gallery,<br />
Los Angeles; Museo d’<strong>Arte</strong>, Mendrisio;<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam.<br />
1998<br />
Thomas Segal Gallery, Baltimora; Fundació<br />
Miró, Barcellona; Guy Pieters Gallery,<br />
Knokke; Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam;<br />
Galleria Il Gabbiano, Roma.<br />
1999<br />
Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Los Angeles; Robert<br />
Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley, California;<br />
Galleri Faurschou, Copenaghen; Ikon Ltd.<br />
Contemporary Art, Santa Monica; Manny<br />
Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles; Galerie<br />
Jean Fournier, Parigi; Baukunst Galerie,<br />
Colonia.<br />
2000<br />
Galleri GKM Siwert Bergstrom, Malmö;<br />
Richard Gray Gallery, New York e Chicago;<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam; Lawrence<br />
Rubin Greenberg Van Doren Fine Art, New<br />
York; Galleria Il Gabbiano, Roma; Idemitsu<br />
Museum of Arts, Osaka e Tokyo.<br />
2001<br />
Guy Pieters Gallery, Saint-Paul de Vence;<br />
Alan Cristea Gallery, Londra; Galerie<br />
Proarta, Zurigo; Brian Gross Gallery,<br />
San <strong>Francis</strong>co; Lawing Gallery, Houston.<br />
documentari di <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> vengono<br />
acquisiti dal John Paul Getty Art Museum<br />
Research Institute di Los Angeles.<br />
2006-2007<br />
Kunstmuseum, Bern; Galerie Flintholm,<br />
Verster Skerninge, Danimarca; Robert<br />
Green Gallery, Mill Valley, California;<br />
Galerie Jean Fournier, Parigi; Galerie LC,<br />
Parigi.<br />
2008<br />
Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Los Angeles;<br />
Galerie Proarta, Zurigo; Galleria San Carlo,<br />
Milano; Galleria Repetto, Acqui Terme.<br />
2009<br />
College of the Canyons Art Gallery,<br />
Santa Clarita, California; American<br />
Contemporary Art Gallery, Monaco di<br />
Baviera; Smith Andersen North, San<br />
Rafael, California; Leslie Sacks Fine Art,<br />
Los Angeles; <strong>Sam</strong>uelis Baumgarte Galerie,<br />
Bielefeld; L&M Arts, New York; Bernard<br />
Jacobson Gallery, Londra; Gallery Delaive,<br />
Amsterdam; Guy Pieters Gallery, Knokke.<br />
2010-2011<br />
Galerie Proarta, Zurigo; Helly Nahmad<br />
Gallery, New York; Danubiana Art<br />
Museum, Bratislava; Coskun Fine Art,<br />
Londra; Galerie Koch, Hannover; Galerie<br />
Jean Fournier, Parigi; Gallery Delaive,<br />
Amsterdam; Galerie Thomas Modern,<br />
Monaco di Baviera; Page Gallery, Seul;<br />
Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York.<br />
2012<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia<br />
2002-2004<br />
Galerie Pudelko, Bonn; Las Vegas Art<br />
Museum, Las Vegas; Galerie Thomas,<br />
Monaco di Baviera; Galerie Boisserée,<br />
Colonia; Galerie Iris Wazzau, Davos;<br />
Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Friburgo; Ace<br />
Gallery, Beverly Hills; <strong>Arte</strong>mis Greenberg<br />
Van Doren Gallery, New York; Robert<br />
Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley, California;<br />
Broadbent Gallery / Robert Sandelson<br />
Galleries, Londra; Santa Monica<br />
Community College, Santa Monica;<br />
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam; Baukunst<br />
Galerie, Colonia; Galerie Thomas, Monaco<br />
di Baviera; American Contemporary<br />
Art Gallery, Monaco di Baviera; Galerie<br />
Proarta, Zurigo. Lo Idemitsu Museum of<br />
Arts di Tokyo organizza una grande mostra<br />
itinerante in sei musei giapponesi.<br />
2004-2005<br />
Grande retrospettiva al Museum Jan<br />
van der Togt di Amstelveen, in Olanda,<br />
in collaborazione con la Gallery Delaive<br />
di Amsterdam. Nel 2005 gli archivi<br />
87
in collaboration with<br />
Debra Burchett-Lere,<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation ©<br />
Biographical Notes<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>, born in 1923 in San Mateo,<br />
California, died in 1994 in Santa Monica,<br />
California.<br />
The artist originally studied psychology and<br />
medicine. Turning to art, he studied painting<br />
under Clyfford Still before going to Paris,<br />
where he stayed from 1948 until 1950, attending<br />
the Académie Léger. In 1952 he had<br />
his first one-man-show in Paris and met exponents<br />
of French informel. Accepted as a<br />
member of the young European avant-garde,<br />
he showed his work at exhibitions in Paris,<br />
London and Bern. The participation in Twelve<br />
Americans, an exhibition mounted in New<br />
York by the Museum of Modern Art in 1956,<br />
made <strong>Francis</strong> well-known in America too.<br />
During this period his style changed from<br />
compositions with the picture surface covered<br />
in monochrome values to brightly coloured<br />
“islands of colour” on white canvases.<br />
His calligraphic handling of brushwork<br />
and the lyrical character of his fluid colour<br />
now linked <strong>Francis</strong> with Far Eastern art,<br />
which he studied intensively. In 1957 he<br />
travelled around the world, visiting India,<br />
Thailand and Japan. His work was shown<br />
at exhibitions in Tokyo and Osaka.<br />
After moving restlessly between Paris,<br />
his home, and other great cities, <strong>Francis</strong><br />
returned to California in 1962, settling at<br />
first in Santa Barbara and then establishing<br />
a studio in Venice, Santa Monica in 1963.<br />
During the 1960s <strong>Francis</strong> developed his<br />
own distinctive style of spontaneous and<br />
gestural dripping. He guided oils, acrylic and<br />
watercolours across his canvases with circling<br />
and spraying movements. In his 1970s<br />
“grid pictures” the surface is covered with<br />
rectangular structures.<br />
<strong>Francis</strong> was not only a distinguished exponent<br />
of action painting. He also explored<br />
media such as lithography, etching and<br />
monotype. His preoccupation with printmaking<br />
led to the production of attractive<br />
experimental work in the early 1980s.<br />
Forcefully expressive compositions in several<br />
parts, some of them with running paint,<br />
are the hallmark of these years. In his final<br />
phase, <strong>Francis</strong> executed commissions for<br />
large-scale murals.<br />
1946-1958<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> paints and studies in San<br />
<strong>Francis</strong>co area, California after plane<br />
crash and illness hospitalizes him for<br />
years. Receives B.A. degree in 1949 and<br />
M.A. degree in 1950 from University of<br />
California, Berkeley. Between 1950 and<br />
1958 he lives and works primarily in Paris,<br />
France, with travels to Mexico, Japan,<br />
Europe, and USA.<br />
1952<br />
First solo exhibition at Galerie Nina<br />
Dausset, Paris.<br />
1955<br />
Solo exhibition at Galerie Rive Droite,<br />
Paris.<br />
1956<br />
Included in Twelve Americans show at the<br />
Museum of Modern Art, New York City.<br />
Solo exhibitions: Galerie Rive Droite, Paris,<br />
France; Zoe Dusanne Gallery, Seattle,<br />
Washington; Martha Jackson Gallery, New<br />
York City; Galerie Ad Libitum, Antwerpen.<br />
Time Magazine describes <strong>Francis</strong> as “the<br />
hottest American painter in Paris these<br />
days”.<br />
1957<br />
He travels to Japan and paints a mural<br />
for the Sogetsu School, Tokyo. Solo<br />
exhibitions at Zoe Dusanne Gallery,<br />
Seattle, Washington, and Gimpel Fils,<br />
London, England.<br />
1959<br />
He rents additional studio in New York<br />
City and begins work on Chase Manhattan<br />
Bank mural, Pasadena, California. Solo<br />
exhibition at Pasadena Art Museum,<br />
travelling to San <strong>Francis</strong>co Museum<br />
of Art and Seattle Art Museum.<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> marries the painter Teruko<br />
Yokoi; birth of their daughter, Kayo.<br />
1960-1966<br />
Lives and works in Bern, Switzerland,<br />
during another period of hospitalization.<br />
He divorces Teruko Yokoi.<br />
Solo exhibitions: Kunsthalle, Bern, travelling<br />
to <strong>Moderna</strong> Museet, Stockholm; Minami<br />
Gallery, Tokyo; Kornfeld and Klipstein,<br />
Bern; Galerie Benador, Zurich; Esther<br />
Bear Gallery, Santa Barbara, California.<br />
Group exhibition at Documenta III, Kassel,<br />
Germany (Basel mural panels are shown).<br />
In 1962, after release from hospital, he<br />
moves back to California, first staying in<br />
Santa Barbara and then Santa Monica. He<br />
purchases property and designs new studio<br />
at 345 West Channel Road, Santa Monica,<br />
which becomes his permanent home base.<br />
He maintains studio in Paris until it is razed<br />
in 1983. In 1966 he creates Sky Painting<br />
performance over Tokyo Bay, Japan.<br />
He marries Mako Idemitsu; birth of their<br />
son Osamu.<br />
1967<br />
Solo exhibitions at Pierre Matisse<br />
Gallery, New York; Museum of Fine Arts,<br />
Houston, Texas, travelling to University<br />
Art Museum, Berkeley, California. Creates<br />
another performance work, Snow Painting,<br />
in Naibara, Japan.<br />
1968<br />
He receives honorary Ph.D. from<br />
University of California, Berkeley.<br />
Solo exhibitions: Centre National d’Art<br />
Contemporain, Paris; Kunsthalle, Basel;<br />
Minami Gallery, Tokyo.<br />
1969-1972<br />
Birth of <strong>Francis</strong>’ third child, Shingo (1969).<br />
He creates mural-sized canvas for the<br />
Nationalgalerie, Berlin. Solo exhibitions:<br />
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York;<br />
Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles;<br />
Los Angeles County Museum of Art,<br />
Los Angeles; Martha Jackson Gallery,<br />
New York; Felix Landau Gallery,<br />
Los Angeles.<br />
Establishes The Litho Shop, Inc. to print<br />
and publish his own limited edition prints.<br />
1972-1973<br />
Solo exhibitions: Albright-Knox Art Gallery,<br />
Buffalo, travelling to Corcoran Gallery,<br />
Washington, D.C.; Whitney Museum<br />
of American Art, New York; Museum<br />
of Fine Arts, Dallas; Oakland Museum<br />
of Art, Oakland; University Museum of Art,<br />
Stanford.<br />
1973-1974<br />
Lives and works primarily in Tokyo. Solo<br />
exhibitions: Idemitsu Art Museum, Tokyo;<br />
Minami Gallery, Tokyo.<br />
1975-1977<br />
Solo exhibitions: Nicholas Wilder Gallery,<br />
Los Angeles; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris;<br />
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York;<br />
Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago; Kornfeld<br />
and Klipstein, Bern; Smith Andersen<br />
Gallery, Palo Alto, California. Begins series<br />
of collaborations on monotypes with<br />
Garner Tullis.<br />
1977-1978<br />
Solo exhibitions: Louisiana Museum<br />
of Art, Humlebaek, Denmark, travelling<br />
to Centre Pompidou, Paris, Liljevalchs<br />
89
Konsthall, Stockholm, and Israel Museum,<br />
Jerusalem.<br />
1978<br />
Solo exhibitions: Nicholas Wilder Gallery,<br />
Los Angeles; Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles.<br />
1979<br />
Solo exhibition at Institute of<br />
Contemporary Art, Boston,<br />
Massachusetts, travelling to Taiwan,<br />
Hong Kong, Philippines, Korea and Japan<br />
under the US International Communication<br />
Agency. Solo exhibitions: Galerie Jean<br />
Fournier, Paris; Andre Emmerich Gallery,<br />
New York; Brooke Alexander Gallery,<br />
New York.<br />
1980<br />
Solo exhibitions: Abbaye de Senanque,<br />
Gordes, France; Los Angeles County<br />
Museum of Art; Riko Mizuno Gallery,<br />
Los Angeles; James Corcoran Gallery,<br />
Los Angeles; Smith Andersen Gallery,<br />
Palo Alto.<br />
He divorces Teruko Idemitsu. He is<br />
elected to Board of Trustees at Museum<br />
of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.<br />
1981<br />
Solo exhibitions: Andre Emmerich Gallery,<br />
New York; Ace Gallery, Los Angeles;<br />
Ruth Schaffner Gallery, Santa Barbara,<br />
California. He establishes temporary<br />
painting studio in San Leandro, California,<br />
to paint a mural for the San <strong>Francis</strong>co<br />
Museum of Art.<br />
1982<br />
Solo exhibitions: Andre Emmerich Gallery,<br />
New York; Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo;<br />
Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago.<br />
1983<br />
Completion of mural for San <strong>Francis</strong>co<br />
Airport. Solo exhibitions: Andre Emmerich<br />
Gallery, New York; Galerie Kornfeld, Bern;<br />
Smith Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto; Fondation<br />
Maeght, Saint-Paul de Vence, France; Studio<br />
Marconi, Milan; Colorado State University,<br />
Fort Collins; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris;<br />
John Berggruen Gallery, San <strong>Francis</strong>co;<br />
Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo. He receives<br />
prestigious “Commandeur de l’Ordre<br />
des Arts et des Lettres” from France.<br />
1984<br />
Forms Lapis Press to publish books.<br />
Solo exhibitions: Andre Emmerich Gallery,<br />
New York; Cantor-Lemberg Gallery,<br />
Birmingham, Michigan; Robert Elkon<br />
Gallery, New York; Knoedler Gallery,<br />
London.<br />
1985<br />
Solo exhibitions: Galerie Kornfeld, Bern;<br />
Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Nantenshi<br />
Gallery, Tokyo; Richard Gray Gallery,<br />
Chicago. Completion of mural for the<br />
San <strong>Francis</strong>co Museum of Art.<br />
He marries Margaret Smith in Japan.<br />
1986<br />
Solo exhibitions: Andre Emmerich Gallery,<br />
New York; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris;<br />
Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo. He receives<br />
commission to paint ceiling mural for<br />
the Opéra Nationale, Théâtre Royal de la<br />
Monnaie, Brussels. Birth of <strong>Francis</strong>’ fourth<br />
child, Augustus. He purchases studio<br />
space in Palo Alto, and maintains working<br />
studios in Santa Monica.<br />
1987<br />
Solo exhibitions at Knoedler Gallery,<br />
London; Andre Emmerich Gallery,<br />
New York; Pamela Auchincloss Gallery,<br />
Santa Barbara, California; Heland Thorden<br />
Wetterling Galleries, Stockholm; Manny<br />
Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles; Galerie<br />
Pudelko, Bonn.<br />
1988<br />
Solo exhibitions: Andre Emmerich Gallery,<br />
New York; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris;<br />
Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo; Smith Andersen<br />
Gallery, Palo Alto; Greenberg Gallery, St.<br />
Louis, Missouri; National Gallery, Seoul;<br />
Toyama Museum, Japan, travelling to<br />
Seibu, Takanawa, Karuizawa, Shiga, Ohara,<br />
Murashiki, Tokyo.<br />
1989<br />
Solo exhibitions: Andre Emmerich Gallery,<br />
New York; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris;<br />
Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London;<br />
Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle; Knoedler<br />
Gallery, London. He works in Manchester,<br />
England.<br />
1990<br />
Solo exhibitions: Associated American<br />
Artists, New York; Gallery Delaive,<br />
Amsterdam; Heland Wetterling Gallery,<br />
Stockholm; Ogawa Art Foundation, Tokyo;<br />
Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh.<br />
He purchases properties and rents studio<br />
in Northern California at Pt. Reyes Station.<br />
Still maintains several working studios in<br />
Santa Monica and Venice, California.<br />
1991<br />
Solo exhibitions: Galerie Kornfeld, Bern;<br />
Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; James<br />
Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles; Gagosian<br />
Gallery, New York; Centre Regional d’Art<br />
Contemporain Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse<br />
Labège, France.<br />
1992<br />
Solo exhibitions: Galerie Daniel Papierski,<br />
Paris; Museum van der Togt, Amsterdam;<br />
Kukje Gallery, Seoul. Publication of The<br />
Prints of <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>. A Catalogue<br />
Raisonné edited by Connie Lembark,<br />
published by Hudson Hills Press.<br />
1993<br />
Solo exhibitions: Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle<br />
der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn;<br />
Galerie Pudelko, Bonn; Bobbie Greenfield<br />
Gallery, Venice; Michel Cohen Gallery, New<br />
York; Ochi Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho; Manny<br />
Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles; Galerie<br />
Iris Wazzau, Davos, Switzerland; Museum<br />
of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Major<br />
painting is commissioned for the German<br />
Parliament building, Bonn. Donation of ten<br />
paintings to the Museum of Contemporary<br />
Art, Los Angeles.<br />
1994<br />
Solo exhibitions: Long Fine Art, New<br />
York; Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam; Bobbie<br />
Greenfield Gallery, Venice; Galerie Jean<br />
Fournier, Paris; Galerie Proarta, Zurich;<br />
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York;<br />
Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo; Richard Gray<br />
Gallery, Chicago; University Art Museum,<br />
University of California, Berkeley; Galerie<br />
Kornfeld, Bern. Daco-Verlag Günter Bläse,<br />
Stuttgart, publishes major monograph<br />
on monotypes. He receives the<br />
“Distinguished Alumnus Award”<br />
from University of California, Berkeley.<br />
<strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong> dies in Santa Monica,<br />
California. In the wake of the artist’s<br />
death, the <strong>Sam</strong>uel L. <strong>Francis</strong> Foundation,<br />
Inc. (also known as the <strong>Sam</strong>uel L. <strong>Francis</strong><br />
Art Museum, Inc. or the <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong><br />
Foundation) was founded. The Foundation<br />
not only serves as his official estate,<br />
but also has a mission “to research,<br />
document, protect and perpetuate the<br />
creative legacy” of the artist. Each year,<br />
many exhibitions of <strong>Sam</strong> <strong>Francis</strong>’s works<br />
are proposed around the world (quite a<br />
hundred between 1994 and 2010) and his<br />
work is going on to get success.<br />
Among his major solo exhibitions:<br />
1995<br />
Los Angeles County Museum of Art,<br />
Los Angeles; Andre Emmerich Gallery,<br />
New York; Manny Silverman Gallery,<br />
Los Angeles; Grunwald/UCLA/Armand<br />
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles;<br />
Kunstverein Ludwigsberg, Frankfurt;<br />
Musée du Jeu de Paume, Paris.<br />
1996<br />
Smith Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto;<br />
Sogetsu Art Museum, Tokyo; Gallery<br />
Delaive, Amsterdam; Gagosian Gallery,<br />
Beverly Hills; Guy Pieters Gallery, Knokke,<br />
Belgium; Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin;<br />
Galerie Proarta, Zurich.<br />
1997<br />
Frederick M. Weisman Museum of Art,<br />
Pepperdine University, Malibu, travelling<br />
90 SAM FRANCIS
in expanded form to Fundación Caja<br />
de Madrid, Spain; Emmerich Gallery,<br />
New York; Manny Silverman Gallery,<br />
Los Angeles; Museo d’<strong>Arte</strong>, Mendrisio,<br />
Switzerland; Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam.<br />
1998<br />
Thomas Segal Gallery, Baltimore,<br />
Maryland; Fundació Miró, Barcelona; Guy<br />
Pieters Gallery, Knokke; Gallery Delaive,<br />
Amsterdam; Galleria Il Gabbiano, Rome.<br />
1999<br />
Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Los Angeles; Robert<br />
Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley, California;<br />
Galleri Faurschou, Copenhagen; Ikon Ltd.<br />
Contemporary Art, Santa Monica; Manny<br />
Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles; Galerie<br />
Jean Fournier, Paris; Baukunst Galerie,<br />
Cologne.<br />
2000<br />
Galleri GKM Siwert Bergstrom, Malmö;<br />
Richard Gray Gallery, New York and<br />
Chicago; Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam;<br />
Lawrence Rubin Greenberg Van Doren<br />
Fine Art, New York; Galleria Il Gabbiano,<br />
Rome; Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Osaka<br />
and Tokyo.<br />
2001<br />
Galerie Guy Pieters, Saint-Paul de Vence,<br />
France; Alan Cristea Gallery, London;<br />
Galerie Proarta, Zurich; Brian Gross<br />
Gallery, San <strong>Francis</strong>co; Lawing Gallery,<br />
Houston.<br />
2006-2007<br />
Kunstmuseum, Bern; Galerie Flintholm,<br />
Verster Skerninge, Denmark; Robert Green<br />
Gallery, Mill Valley, California; Galerie Jean<br />
Fournier, Paris; Galerie LC, Paris.<br />
2008<br />
Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Los Angeles;<br />
Galerie Proarta, Zurich; Galleria San Carlo,<br />
Milan; Galleria Repetto, Acqui Terme, Italy.<br />
2009<br />
College of the Canyons Art Gallery,<br />
Santa Clarita, California; American<br />
Contemporary Art Gallery, Munich; Smith<br />
Andersen North, San Rafael, California;<br />
Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Los Angeles;<br />
<strong>Sam</strong>uelis Baumgarte Galerie, Bielefeld,<br />
Germany; L&M Arts, New York; Bernard<br />
Jacobson Gallery, London; Gallery Delaive,<br />
Amsterdam; Guy Pieters Gallery, Knokke.<br />
2010-2011<br />
Galerie Proarta, Zurich; Helly Nahmad<br />
Gallery, New York; Danubiana Art<br />
Museum, Bratislava; Coskun Fine Art,<br />
London; Galerie Koch, Hanover; Galerie<br />
Jean Fournier, Paris; Gallery Delaive,<br />
Amsterdam; Galerie Thomas Modern,<br />
Munich; Page Gallery, Seoul; Tibor<br />
de Nagy Gallery, New York.<br />
2012<br />
Galleria <strong>Agnellini</strong> <strong>Arte</strong> <strong>Moderna</strong>, Brescia<br />
2002-2004<br />
Galerie Pudelko, Bonn; Las Vegas Art<br />
Museum, Las Vegas; Galerie Thomas,<br />
Munich; Galerie Boisserée, Cologne;<br />
Galerie Iris Wazzau, Davos, Switzerland;<br />
Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Freiburg,<br />
Switzerland; Ace Gallery, Beverly<br />
Hills; <strong>Arte</strong>mis Greenberg Van Doren<br />
Gallery, New York; Robert Green Fine<br />
Arts, Mill Valley, California; Broadbent<br />
Gallery / Robert Sandelson Galleries,<br />
London; Santa Monica Community<br />
College, Santa Monica; Gallery Delaive,<br />
Amsterdam; Baukunst Galerie, Cologne;<br />
Galerie Thomas, Munich; American<br />
Contemporary Art Gallery, Munich;<br />
Galerie Proarta, Zurich. Idemitsu<br />
Museum of Arts, Tokyo, organizes major<br />
exhibition that travels to six museums<br />
in Japan.<br />
Alle pagine seguenti /<br />
Following pages<br />
Untitled (particolare / detail),<br />
1989<br />
Acrilico su carta /<br />
Acrylic on paper<br />
30,5 x 45 cm<br />
SF89-119<br />
2004-2005<br />
Major retrospective exhibition at Museum<br />
Jan van der Togt, Amstelveen, The<br />
Netherlands (organized with Gallery<br />
Delaive, Amsterdam).<br />
In 2005, documentary archives of the<br />
artist’s estate acquired by the John Paul<br />
Getty Art Museum Research Institute,<br />
Los Angeles.<br />
91
Finito di stampare nel mese di aprile 2012<br />
presso Tipografia Camuna S.p.A. - Breno/Brescia<br />
Centro Stampa di Brescia<br />
Pubblicazione stampata con assenza di esalazioni alcooliche<br />
Sistema Cesius ® brevetto Philip Borman Italia