Francis, Sam

Sam Francis
California, 1923-1994

American painter, sculptor and printmaker, regarded as one of the leading Abstract Expressionists.

Originally, trained in medicine and psychology, Francis turned to painting while recovering from an injury. His rendezvous with art, led him to return to school and he received his MA in fine arts from University of California, in 1950. Upon graduation, he moved to France and his subsequent works show a strong influence of Art Informel and Abstract Expressionists, like Jackson Pollock. During the late 1950s, Francis travelled to Japan and his later works seem to be influenced by oriental art -thin paint texture and large void spaces. The increasing simplicity of his latter works resembled Minimal Art. Although, he is more renowned for his paintings, Francis was also an accomplished printmaker and sculptor.

2003   Timothy Yarger Fine Art, Beverly Hills, California, Special Proofs, 1963-1989
2003   Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
2003   Iwaki City Art, Fukushima, Japan
2003   Oita Art Museum, Oita, Japan
2002   Galerie Andreas Baumgarti, Munich
2002   Lovers Fine Arts, Gstaad, Switzerland
2002   Museum of Modern Art, Toyama , Japan
2002   Kawamura Memorial Museum, Chiba, Japan
2002   Museum of Art, Eime, Japan
2002   University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Michigan
1999 - 2001   Sam Francis: Paintings 1947-1990, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles- travelled to Menil Collection, Texas; Malmo Konsthall, Sweden; the Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain; Galleria Comunale d'Art Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome
2001   Alan Cristea Gallery, London, in association with Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art
2000   Lawrence Rubin, Greenberg, Van Doren Fine Art, New York
2000   Galerie Delaive, Amsterdam, Holland
2000   Richard Gray Gallery, New York and Chicago
2000   Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo and Osaka, Japan
1999   Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Los Angeles; Robert Green Fine Arts, California; Gallery Faurschou, Copenhagen; Ikon Ltd., Los Angeles; Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles; Galerie Pascal Retelet, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Baukunst Galerie, Cologne; Pace Editions, New York; Galerie Loeper, Hamburg
1999   Retrospective: Sam Francis: Paintings 1947-1990, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
1998   Dorothy Blau Gallery, Florida; Thomas Segal Gallery, Baltimore; ACA Galerie, Münich; Gallery Guy Pieters, Knokke, Belguim; Bobbie Greenfield Gallery, Los Angeles; Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam; Galleria d'Arte il Gabbiano, Rome
1997   Sam Francis: The Archetypal Image, Frederick M. Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University of Malibu - travelled to The Fundación Caja de Madrid, Spain
1997   André Emmerich Gallery, New York; Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles; Museo d'Arte, Mendrisio, Switzerland; Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago; Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam; Galerie Pascal Retelet, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
1996   Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto; Sogetsu Art Museum, Tokyo; Galerie Delaive, Amsterdam; Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles; Gallery Guy Pieters, Knokke, Belgium; Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin; Galerie Proarta, Zürich
1995   The Last Paintings of Sam Francis at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art
1995   André Emmerich Gallery, New York; Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles; Grunwald/UCLA/Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles;
1995   Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, Germany; Les Années Parisiennes 1950-1961 at the Galerie National du Jeu de Paume, Paris
1995   'The Last Paintings of Sam Francis' a group of 152 small paintings (painted June through August, 1994, at the Santa Monica house studio), The Los Angeles County Museum of Art
1994   Honored with Distinguished Alumnus Award by The University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, which also then created the Sam Francis Scholarship
1994   Long Fine Arts, New York; Galerie Delaive, Amsterdam; Bobbie Greenfield Gallery, Los Angeles; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Galerie Proarta, Zurich; Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo; Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago
1993   Retrospective exhibition at Kunst und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, Germany
1993   Galerie Pudelko, Bonn, Switzerland; Bobbie Greenfield Fine Art, Los Angeles; Michele Cohen Gallery, New York; Ochi Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho; Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angels; Galerie Iris Wazzau, Davos
1993   Donated ten major paintings to The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
1992   Galerie Daniel Papierski, Paris
1992   Museum van der Togt, Amsterdam, Holland
1992   Kukje Gallery, Seoul, Korea
1991   Retrospective at Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, Switzerland
1991   Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; James Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles; Angles Gallery, Los Angeles; Associated American Artists, New York; Gagosian Gallery, New York; Centre Régional d'Art Contemporain Midi-Pyrenées, France
1990   Associated American Artists, New York; GalleryDelaive, Amsterdam; Heland Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm; Ogawa Art Foundation, Tokyo; Ochi Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho; Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh; Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto
1987 - 1989   Founded the Sam Francis Medical Research Center to support the research of infectious and environmental diseases
1989   André Emmerich Gallery, New York, Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London; Sun Valley Center Gallery, Idaho; Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle; Cantor/Lemberg Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan; Knoedler Gallery, London
1988   Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo; Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto; Greenberg Gallery, St. Louis; Galerie Seoul, Korea
1988   Travelling exhibition throughout Japan organized by The Museum of Modern Art, Toyama and Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1987   Knoedler Gallery, London; Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Pamela Auchincloss Gallery, Santa Barbara; Heland Thorden Wetterling Galleries, Stockholm, Sweden; G. Dalsheimer Gallery, Baltimore; Galeria Eude, Barcelona, Spain; Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles; Galerie Pudelko, Bonn, Germany; Lever/Meyerson Galleries, New York
1986   Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Nantenshi Gallery, Toyko; Angles Gallery, Santa Monica; La Mairie de Paris, France
1985   Galerie Kornfeld, Bern; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Nantenshi Gallery, Toyko; Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago; Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto; Hokin Gallery, Florida
1985   National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
1984   Established Lapis Press to publish artists' books
1984   André Emmerich Gallery, New York; Pamela Auchincloss, Gallery, Santa Barbara; Brooke Alexander, Inc., New York; Cantor/Lemberg Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan; Robert Elkon Gallery, New York; Thomas Babeor Gallery, La Jolla; Knoedler Gallery, London, UK; Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles; Steven Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco
1983   Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, Switzerland; Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto; Foundation Maeght, Saint Paul de Vence, France; Studio Marconi, Milan, Italy; Colorado State University, Colorado; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Art Attack Gallery, Idaho; John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco; nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1982   Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1981   Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Ace Gallery, Los Angeles; Ruth Schaffner Gallery, Santa Barbara; Faith and Charity in Hope Gallery, Idaho
1980   Riko Mizuno Gallery, Los Angeles; James Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles; Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto; Abbaye de Senanque, Gordes, France; Los Angeles County Museum of Art
1979   Retrospective of works on paper at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston - traveled to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Manila, Korea and Japan under the US International Communications Agency
1979   Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris, France; Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Brooke Alexander, Inc., New York; Art in Progress at Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1979   Gallery of the Cultural Center of the Phillippines, Taipei, Taiwan
1978   Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles; Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles; Musee National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
1975 - 1977   Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles
1975 - 1977   Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris, France
1975 - 1977   Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York
1975 - 1977   Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1975 - 1977   Galerie Kornfeld und Klipstein, Bern, Switzerland
1975 - 1977   Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto, California
1975 - 1977   Began collaborating with Garner Tullis on monotypes at the Institute of Experimental Printmaking, San Francisco
1977   Art in Progress at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art at Humlebæk, Denmark - traveled to Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm
1974   Minami Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1974   Idemitsu Art Museum, Tokyo
1969 - 1972   Martha Jackson Gallery, New York
1969 - 1972   Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles
1969 - 1972   Solo shows at André Emmerich Gallery, New York; Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles
1972   Retrospective solo museum exhibition at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, which traveled to Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Texas, and Oakland Museum of Art, California. Exhibit at the Stanford University Museum of Art, CA
1968   Solo museum exhibition at Centre National d'Art Contemporain, Paris and Kunsthalle Basel. Solo show at Minami Gallery, Tokyo
1968   Kunsthalle Basel
1968   Minami Gallery, Tokyo
1967   Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York
1967   Retrospective at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX- traveled to University Art Museum, Berkeley; San Francisco Museum of Art
1967   Snow Painting performance in Naibara, Japan
1966   Sky painting performance over Tokyo Bay, Japan
1961 - 1964   Minami Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1961 - 1964   Galerie Kornfeld an Klipstein, Bern, Switzerland
1961 - 1964   Galerie Benador, Zurich, Germany
1961 - 1964   Documenta III, useum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany
1960 - 1961   Solo museum show at Kunsthalle, Bern which travels to Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
1961   Esther Bear Gallery, Santa Barbara, California
1959   Mural commission by the Chase Manhattan Bank
1959   Solo exhibition at Pasadena Art Museum, California which travels to San Francisco Museum of Art, California and Seattle Art Museum, Washington
1957 - 1958   Hyakkaten Department Store, Tokyo, Japan
1957 - 1958   Kintetsu Department Store, Osaka, Japan
1958   The Phillips Gallery, Washington, DC
1957   Gimpel Fils, London
1956   Martha Jackson Gallery, New York
1956   Galerie Rive Droite, Paris
1956   '12 Americans' The Museum of Modern Art, New York
1955   Galerie Rive Droite, Paris
1955   Tendances actuelles de l'Ecole de Paris III at Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland
1952   Galerie du Dragon, Paris

ORIGINAL ART BY SAM FRANCIS AT PICASSOMIO

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