Sam Francis (1982)

IT WAS AN INTENSE INTEREST in “the substance of which light is made”—to use the artist’s own words—that was the key to his development as a painter, and that interest serves as a key to Francis’ art. Francis’ special attraction to light began in the 1940s, when he was kept in dark convalescent rooms in military hospitals after being injured while serving in the Army Air Corps. During this time, the play of light on the ceiling and walls, and sunset skies over the nearby Pacific, led the artist to his first, delicate “light” fantasies.

Recently, expanding on these jubilant explorations of light and space, Francis has tended to saturate his vast canvases with richer color—intense blues, reds, yellows, and greens—than ever before. Fought at length, he has created works of unparalleled power and imagination. Though his art has many strongly “American” aspects in its outlook, Francis has always had far-ranging interests and deep associations abroad. He has traveled extensively and has made his home at various times in Japan and Europe, as well as in his native California. His work reflects a broad, diverse influence: Oriental philosophy has inspired mandala forms, while Western science inspired biomorphic imagery.

In this full-scale book on Francis, first published in 1975 and here enlarged and brought up to date, Peter Selz charts the manifold directions taken over the years by one of the greatest of the Abstract Expressionists. Selz’s sensitive evaluation gains an added dimension through his long-time friendship with the artist. Besides a selection of recent pieces in all mediums, the volume also contains many photographs of the artist and a revised chronology and bibliography.

An inveterate experimenter, Francis was one of the early conceptual and process artists, and he has broken new ground in painting and graphics. In the selection of monotypes shown here, highlighting his innovations in graphics—including four-to-six-foot lithographs and the extraordinary monotypes that Francis calls “instant paintings.”