Sam Francis "Jubilee" color lithograph 1964

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Sam Francis

Born on June 25, 1923, in San Mateo, California
Died on November 4, 1994, in Santa Monica, California

Sam Francis Painter, graphic artist. Studied botany and medicine from 1941 to 1943, art history from 1948 to 1950 at the University of California, Berkeley; attended the School of Fine Arts in San Francisco from 1945 to 1946; studied at the studio of F. Léger in Paris in 1950. Extended stays in Japan in the 1960s. 1969 Honorary doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley; 1982 Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Paris. Representative of second-generation Abstract Expressionism, whose work incorporates influences from Japanese art. Characteristic are patches of color, sometimes transparent, grouped into fields, as murals or on canvas. Representative of second-generation Abstract Expressionism, whose work incorporates influences from Japanese art. Characteristic are fields of partially transparent color patches as murals or on canvas, and in the 1980s as drippings. Also produces prints as lithographs, silkscreen prints, and monotypes.

Sam Francis is represented in the following museums and institutions, among others:

- Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
- Hamburger Kunsthalle
- Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
- Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice (Switzerland)
- Albertina, Vienna (Austria)
- Kunstmuseum Basel (Switzerland)
- Tate Gallery, London (UK)
- Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, New York (USA)
- Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (USA)
- Museum of Modern Art, New York (USA)
- National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (USA)