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Lot Essay
This work is registered with the Sam Francis Estate under no. SFP48-10.
Untitled is one of the few works executed by Sam Francis between 1945 and 1949 to remain after a fire in the artist's father's home destroyed most of his early paintings from this period.
By the late 1940s Francis had already experimented with a diverse range of styles ranging from landscapes, seascapes and portaits to surrealist canvases influenced by Picasso, Miro and Klee. Following his release from hospital and the army Francis married and recuperated in the Carmel Valley where he began to paint his first abstract pictures.
Some of these early works reveal suggestions of interiors or still life studies but any tangible reference to figuration eludes the vigour as soon as we try to grasp it. Francis endeavoured to reveal the soul rather than to concentrate on faithfulness to the world of external appearance and works like Untitled demonstrate the beginning of the artist's signature style which was founded on a fascination with the aqueous and aerial mobility of forms.
By 1950 and at only 27 years of age, Francis was already acknowledged as one of the leaders of modern American painting. It was observed by some of the most eminent critics of the time that the early works such as Untitled bore a direct comparision with works by Gorky, Rothko and Still. It seemed remarkable that such an inexperienced painter so much younger than these older American masters had reached such an advanced point so early in his artistic career. As in Untitled Francis's paintings of this period, characterised by thin washes with their soft, pale, muted hues and fluid simple shapes of colour emphasise the indubitable debt that Francis paid to Rothko. Yet in response to the Expressionist excitement of Pollack's drip painting and the serene nebulous coloured rectangles of Rothko, Francis focused on the 'ceaseless instability' inherent in both air and water which formed the basis of his painterly aesthetic and would remain the premise for his art thoughout the rest of his life.
Untitled is one of the few works executed by Sam Francis between 1945 and 1949 to remain after a fire in the artist's father's home destroyed most of his early paintings from this period.
By the late 1940s Francis had already experimented with a diverse range of styles ranging from landscapes, seascapes and portaits to surrealist canvases influenced by Picasso, Miro and Klee. Following his release from hospital and the army Francis married and recuperated in the Carmel Valley where he began to paint his first abstract pictures.
Some of these early works reveal suggestions of interiors or still life studies but any tangible reference to figuration eludes the vigour as soon as we try to grasp it. Francis endeavoured to reveal the soul rather than to concentrate on faithfulness to the world of external appearance and works like Untitled demonstrate the beginning of the artist's signature style which was founded on a fascination with the aqueous and aerial mobility of forms.
By 1950 and at only 27 years of age, Francis was already acknowledged as one of the leaders of modern American painting. It was observed by some of the most eminent critics of the time that the early works such as Untitled bore a direct comparision with works by Gorky, Rothko and Still. It seemed remarkable that such an inexperienced painter so much younger than these older American masters had reached such an advanced point so early in his artistic career. As in Untitled Francis's paintings of this period, characterised by thin washes with their soft, pale, muted hues and fluid simple shapes of colour emphasise the indubitable debt that Francis paid to Rothko. Yet in response to the Expressionist excitement of Pollack's drip painting and the serene nebulous coloured rectangles of Rothko, Francis focused on the 'ceaseless instability' inherent in both air and water which formed the basis of his painterly aesthetic and would remain the premise for his art thoughout the rest of his life.