SAM FRANCIS

Sam Francis (1923-1994)

Sam Francis is one of America’s most celebrated abstract printmakers, known for his explorations with visual space and colour from the early 1960s all the way through to the mid-90s.

During the late 1940s, while studying for his degree in art at Berkeley, Sam Francis drew inspiration from the abstract expressionist movement, most notably echoing the fluid, dynamic style of Jackson Pollock’s ‘Drip Paintings’. However, Francis had ideas that stretched far beyond America’s shores and swiftly charted his own trajectory to become one of the first truly global artists. Between 1950 and 1958, Francis lived and worked in Paris, the South of France, Tokyo, Mexico City, Bern and New York. It was French modernist painting, Asian culture and Buddihsm which are thought to have impacted his artistic development in particular.