Sam Francis - Agnellini Arte Moderna

in collaboration with
Debra Burchett-Lere,
Sam Francis Foundation ©
Biographical Notes
Sam Francis, born in 1923 in San Mateo,
California, died in 1994 in Santa Monica,
California.
The artist originally studied psychology and
medicine. Turning to art, he studied painting
under Clyfford Still before going to Paris,
where he stayed from 1948 until 1950, attending
the Académie Léger. In 1952 he had
his first one-man-show in Paris and met exponents
of French informel. Accepted as a
member of the young European avant-garde,
he showed his work at exhibitions in Paris,
London and Bern. The participation in Twelve
Americans, an exhibition mounted in New
York by the Museum of Modern Art in 1956,
made Francis well-known in America too.
During this period his style changed from
compositions with the picture surface covered
in monochrome values to brightly coloured
“islands of colour” on white canvases.
His calligraphic handling of brushwork
and the lyrical character of his fluid colour
now linked Francis with Far Eastern art,
which he studied intensively. In 1957 he
travelled around the world, visiting India,
Thailand and Japan. His work was shown
at exhibitions in Tokyo and Osaka.
After moving restlessly between Paris,
his home, and other great cities, Francis
returned to California in 1962, settling at
first in Santa Barbara and then establishing
a studio in Venice, Santa Monica in 1963.
During the 1960s Francis developed his
own distinctive style of spontaneous and
gestural dripping. He guided oils, acrylic and
watercolours across his canvases with circling
and spraying movements. In his 1970s
“grid pictures” the surface is covered with
rectangular structures.
Francis was not only a distinguished exponent
of action painting. He also explored
media such as lithography, etching and
monotype. His preoccupation with printmaking
led to the production of attractive
experimental work in the early 1980s.
Forcefully expressive compositions in several
parts, some of them with running paint,
are the hallmark of these years. In his final
phase, Francis executed commissions for
large-scale murals.
1946-1958
Sam Francis paints and studies in San
Francisco area, California after plane
crash and illness hospitalizes him for
years. Receives B.A. degree in 1949 and
M.A. degree in 1950 from University of
California, Berkeley. Between 1950 and
1958 he lives and works primarily in Paris,
France, with travels to Mexico, Japan,
Europe, and USA.
1952
First solo exhibition at Galerie Nina
Dausset, Paris.
1955
Solo exhibition at Galerie Rive Droite,
Paris.
1956
Included in Twelve Americans show at the
Museum of Modern Art, New York City.
Solo exhibitions: Galerie Rive Droite, Paris,
France; Zoe Dusanne Gallery, Seattle,
Washington; Martha Jackson Gallery, New
York City; Galerie Ad Libitum, Antwerpen.
Time Magazine describes Francis as “the
hottest American painter in Paris these
days”.
1957
He travels to Japan and paints a mural
for the Sogetsu School, Tokyo. Solo
exhibitions at Zoe Dusanne Gallery,
Seattle, Washington, and Gimpel Fils,
London, England.
1959
He rents additional studio in New York
City and begins work on Chase Manhattan
Bank mural, Pasadena, California. Solo
exhibition at Pasadena Art Museum,
travelling to San Francisco Museum
of Art and Seattle Art Museum.
Sam Francis marries the painter Teruko
Yokoi; birth of their daughter, Kayo.
1960-1966
Lives and works in Bern, Switzerland,
during another period of hospitalization.
He divorces Teruko Yokoi.
Solo exhibitions: Kunsthalle, Bern, travelling
to Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Minami
Gallery, Tokyo; Kornfeld and Klipstein,
Bern; Galerie Benador, Zurich; Esther
Bear Gallery, Santa Barbara, California.
Group exhibition at Documenta III, Kassel,
Germany (Basel mural panels are shown).
In 1962, after release from hospital, he
moves back to California, first staying in
Santa Barbara and then Santa Monica. He
purchases property and designs new studio
at 345 West Channel Road, Santa Monica,
which becomes his permanent home base.
He maintains studio in Paris until it is razed
in 1983. In 1966 he creates Sky Painting
performance over Tokyo Bay, Japan.
He marries Mako Idemitsu; birth of their
son Osamu.
1967
Solo exhibitions at Pierre Matisse
Gallery, New York; Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston, Texas, travelling to University
Art Museum, Berkeley, California. Creates
another performance work, Snow Painting,
in Naibara, Japan.
1968
He receives honorary Ph.D. from
University of California, Berkeley.
Solo exhibitions: Centre National d’Art
Contemporain, Paris; Kunsthalle, Basel;
Minami Gallery, Tokyo.
1969-1972
Birth of Francis’ third child, Shingo (1969).
He creates mural-sized canvas for the
Nationalgalerie, Berlin. Solo exhibitions:
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York;
Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles;
Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
Los Angeles; Martha Jackson Gallery,
New York; Felix Landau Gallery,
Los Angeles.
Establishes The Litho Shop, Inc. to print
and publish his own limited edition prints.
1972-1973
Solo exhibitions: Albright-Knox Art Gallery,
Buffalo, travelling to Corcoran Gallery,
Washington, D.C.; Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York; Museum
of Fine Arts, Dallas; Oakland Museum
of Art, Oakland; University Museum of Art,
Stanford.
1973-1974
Lives and works primarily in Tokyo. Solo
exhibitions: Idemitsu Art Museum, Tokyo;
Minami Gallery, Tokyo.
1975-1977
Solo exhibitions: Nicholas Wilder Gallery,
Los Angeles; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris;
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York;
Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago; Kornfeld
and Klipstein, Bern; Smith Andersen
Gallery, Palo Alto, California. Begins series
of collaborations on monotypes with
Garner Tullis.
1977-1978
Solo exhibitions: Louisiana Museum
of Art, Humlebaek, Denmark, travelling
to Centre Pompidou, Paris, Liljevalchs
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