March 3 - May 1, 2020 The Fuller Building 41 East 57th Street, Second Floor New York, NY 10022 212-628-1600 • info@benrimon.com • www.davidbenrimon.com © 2019, David Benrimon Fine Art LLC
Curated by Isabel Dicker
Artwork © Sam Francis Foundation, California/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
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FORWARD /
THE EARLY WORKS /
THE VOID SERIES /
THE FRESH AIR & MATRIX SERIES /
THE LAST WORKS /
PRINTS /
David Benrimon Fine Art’s exhibition “Sam Francis: Abstract Impressionist,” traces Francis’ prolific five-decade career with a selection of paintings, works on paper, and prints from his expansive oeuvre. Categorized as an “Abstract Impressionist,” a term coined by Elaine de Kooning in 1951 for artists who are more concerned with the qualities of light, space and air than the painting’s surface, this show focuses on Francis’ full investment in luminosity and the potential of color. Our remarkable works from various artistic phases reveal Francis’ exploration of the possibilities of bold color, gesture, perception of space, and the dynamic play of light and dark.
Born in California in 1923, Francis initially became fascinated with light as it shifted above his bed while serving in the US Army Corps. His foray into painting came when he was wrapped in a full body plaster cast at the age of twenty-one and was given a set of watercolors as physical therapy. After completing his undergraduate studies the 1950s, Francis moved to Paris where he became profoundly influenced by Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, and Claude Monet – French Impressionist masters who were pioneers in arresting light on canvas. This captivation defined Francis’ entire practice. His unique visual idiom that explored light, color and space reconfigured Abstract Expressionism’s transcendental understanding of painting through Impressionist mechanics. Instead of focusing on the expressivity of an individual artist, Francis prioritized the formal arrangement of the picture’s composition. By the end of the decade, according to the art historian Eric de Chassey, Francis was “Innovative in what he knew how to receive, and transform, from very different influences. Francis effectively combined the contributions of the first generation of Abstract Expressionism and of French modernism born of Impressionism.” From the “Monochromatic Paintings” of the 1950s, to the “Edge/Open/Sail Paintings” of the 1960s, to the “Matrix or Grid Works” of the early 1980s, Francis’ dramatic and richly colorful canvases feature drips, pools of paint, and delicate splatters of pigment. They explode with color, as if pulsating with energy or propelled by an internal velocity. While Abstract Expressionism and Color Field painting were on the rise in America, Francis’ chromatic intensity and internal energy singled him as one of the most innovative post-war artists of his generation. Francis’ widely acclaimed work resides in prestigious private collections worldwide and permanent museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Kunstmuseum Basel, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. L. Finkelstein. “New Look: Abstract Impressionism” in ARTnews 55, no. 1, 1956. E. de Chassey. “Sam Francis, post-impressioniste?” in D. Abadie, Sam Fracis, les anness parisiennes, 1950-1961, exh. cat., Jeu de Paume, Paris, 1995, p. 54.
THE EARLY WORKS In 1950, after finishing his undergraduate studies, Francis left San Francisco to embark on a journey to find himself in the eternal capital of the art world, Paris. There, he attended the Atelier Fernand Léger, where he was exposed to the work of Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse, French masters who profoundly influenced Francis’ artistic practice. In 1962, Francis reminisced, “Paris was a beautiful basin for my ideas to settle out of solution.” The following works trace the artist’s first real-world push into the world of painting. This early period is best characterized by biomorphic and cell-like forms floating on subtle, neutral monochromatic backgrounds, as seen in Untitled, an ink wash on paper from 1950 (Fig. 1). That same year, Francis was shown alongside his European contemporaries in his first group show at the Salon de l’Art libre at the Palais de New York. As his time in Europe progressed, vibrant color became central to Francis’ work, shifting his practice to produce more lively chromatic compositions. The 1956-1957 watercolor Yellow, Blue & Orange features boundless movement and strong colors, a notable departure from his earlier series (Fig. 2). In 1956, Francis was included in the MoMA’s “12 Americans” exhibition, expanding his prominence to the American art world as well. In the 1960s, after relocating to Tokyo, Francis began to introduce cultural influences into his work. This ushered in a productive period that would produce some of the artist’s strongest works yet. He absorbed the gestural styles of “sumi-e” painting, and the “haboku” or splashed ink within “Sesshu Toyo.” Francis also drew on the white space from the concept of “ma,” which he began to employ as a reach into the spiritual world and as a means to discover profound meaning. This stage, known as the “Blue Balls” series, features dynamic works comprised of free-floating, celllike forms dancing among splattered paint as seen in Untitled, 1964 (Fig. 3). This phase also alluded to his health concerns and possible sterility. Francis’ art, yet again, became the counterpoint to the physical pain he often endured. P. Colt. “The Painting of Sam Francis” in Art Journal 22, no. 1, Fall 1962, p. 2.
1. Untitled, c. 1950/52 Ink wash on paper 22 h x 17 w in
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2. Yellow, Blue & Orange, 1956-1957 Watercolor on paper 22 h x 30 w in
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3. Untitled, 1964 Gouache and oil on paper 27 h x 41 w in
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4. Untitled, 1964 Acrylic on paper 27 h x 40 w in
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5. New York, New York, 1959 Gouache/egg tempera on gessoed French paper 40 h x 27 w in
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THE VOID SERIES In the mid-1960s, after a hospital stay in Bern, Francis moved back to Los Angeles and his paintings began to reflect this new environment with expanses of light, space and hope. This new series called the “Edge/Open/Sail Paintings” are open works with edges of primary colors framing an airy void of light. Untitled (#2 Pri-Rain), 1964, for example, is a frame of color with pigment slowly floating to the center of the surface (Fig. 8). Francis created these works by applying paint to a surface laid flat on the floor to assure a smoother and more controlled painting. He preferred that these canvases be hung without frames, painting the edges and stapling the verso since the sides would all be visible. Francis subtly tinted the gesso backgrounds of his “Edge Paintings” to indicate an emotional feeling.
As Francis healed and began to look toward the future, he proposed a “New Arts Society” for the budding Los Angeles art scene. Although never realized, this society served as a jumping off point for the development of MoCA, where Francis was a founding board member.
6. Untitled, 1964 Acrylic on paper 26 h x 40 w in
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7. is To Mako, 1966 Acrylic on paper 41 h x 29 w in
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8. Untitled (#2 Pri-Rain), 1964 Gouache on paper 22 h x 30 w in
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9. Untitled, 1964 Acrylic on paper 35 h x 25 w in
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THE FRESH AIR & MATRIX SERIES In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Francis created “Fresh Air Paintings” that are rich kaleidoscopes of color. These works present clusters of layered colorful shapes, which Francis created using a free-flowing movement he called “angel trails.” By the end of the decade, Francis worked on a novel, more measured approach for his “Matrix or Grid Works,” which feature gridded canvases that resemble architectural latticework. Though the “Matrix Works” were usually quite large and painted on the floor, its effect is evident in the monumental Untitled, 1979 (Fig. 13). To produce these works, Francis developed and mastered a technique using Photo-flo and tinted water. He first sketched the underlying composition with a broad paint roller of watery paint and Photo-flo, an agent that slows the drying process and allows paints to flow. Then, with a smaller brush, he added fluid paint that moved in and out of these boundaries. The resulting final paintings appear spontaneous, veiling how measured and deliberate they were crafted. Francis also carefully employed spray bottles and blow dryers to speed and slow the process opportunistically. He often switched the top and bottom of the painting upon hanging.
10. Untitled, 1973 Acrylic on paper 22 h x 30 w in
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11. Untitled, 1978 Acrylic on Japanese paper 36 h x 71 w in
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12. Untitled, 1978 Acrylic on paper 18 h x 24 w in
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13. Untitled, 1979 Acrylic on canvas 123 h x 248 w in
THE LAST WORKS In the 1980s, Francis’ grid pattern dissipated into more free-flowing, molten forms. In 1986, perhaps spurred by a new marriage and child (his fifth and fourth respectively), Francis had a renewed energy in his art. This vigor is apparent in Untitled, 1986, a painting from that year, which features a dense, symmetrical composition that suggests a newfound dynamism and vitality for the artist (Fig. 15).
This celebration was short-lived as Francis was diagnosed with prostate cancer. In the last five years of his life, Francis responded to his medical issues with an intensified urge to paint. The works from this period are emotionally charged with a thicker application of paint. These 152 final paintings from the summer of 1994 were subsequently grouped as “The Last Works” or “Joie de Vivre.” Despite the loss of use of his right hand, Francis forged ahead with this new body of work, filling the walls of his pool house studio. Untitled, 1994, and the tondo painting Untitled, 1994, are two such works from this notorious year; they are dense, layered and intensely rich, a fitting finale to his illustrious career (Figs. 18, 14). Francis passed away in Santa Monica in November 1994 at the age of seventy-one. He had once said “There isn’t enough time to paint all the images in my head,” but he indubitably produced an inexhaustible amount of art and created an everlasting legacy. B. Freeman. “Sam Francis: Ideas and Paintings” in unpublished manuscript in Sam Francis Papers, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, 1969, p. 158.
14. Untitled, 1994 Acrylic on canvas 18 in diameter
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15. Untitled, 1986 Acrylic on canvas 36 h x 36 w in
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16. Untitled, 1981 Acrylic on canvas 36 h x 36 w in
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17. Nothing Dies, 1985 Acrylic on canvas 24 h x 29 w in
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18. Untitled, 1994 Acrylic on canvas 15 h x 18 w in
PRINTS In the early 1970s, Francis developed his own lithography/etching studio. Throughout his career, Francis’ prints and paintings continuously informed each other, as he simultaneously developed both practices. In 1984, Francis founded The Lapis Press, which he named after the deep-blue lapis stone that was the color source for his signature “Sam Francis Blue.” This exhibition presents eleven of Francis’ impressive prints from 1964-1990 – works that burst with vibrant hues and iconic themes from his most renowned series.
19. Untitled, 1964 Lithograph on Kochi rice paper 15 h x 23 w in Edition of 4
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20. Untitled, 1964 Lithograph in colors on Kochi rice paper 15 h x 22 w in Edition of 40
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21. Damp, 1969 Lithograph in colors 26 h x 37 w in Edition of 20
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22. Blue Cut Sail, 1969 Lithograph in colors 22 h x 30 w in Edition of 20
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23. Untitled, 1967 Lithograph in colors 25 h x 19 w in Edition of 3
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24. Untitled, 1978 Lithograph in colors 38 h x 28 w in Edition of 50
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25. Untitled, 1984 Etching and aquatint in colors 29 h x 17 w in Edition of 30
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26. Untitled (Harmony), 1994 Etching 21 h x 18 w in Edition of 35
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27. Untitled, 1990 Aquatint, monoprint with chine-collĂŠ on Twinrocker paper 34 h x 27 w in Edition of 19
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28. Untitled, 1990 Aquatint, monoprint with chine-collĂŠ on Twinrocker paper 33 h x 27 w in Edition of 22
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29. Senza Titolo III (Untitled III), 1987 Etching, aquatint and drypoint printed in colors 49 h x 53 w in Edition of 76
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The Fuller Building 41 East 57th Street, Second Floor New York, NY 10022
