O ne of the preeminent examples of Sam Francis’ extraordinarily rare ‘black paintings,’ Black (Deepened Black) is a powerful and expressive, large-scale, edge-to-edge abstract painting from the formative period of the artist’s work. Among the very first series of paintings Francis made after moving to Paris in 1950, the present work is a full-bodied and multi-layered composition rendered in dark energetic brushstrokes. The brightly colored base layers of blue, yellow, orange, and red peek out from underneath the dark oil covered surface. Snippets of color are visible along the top edge, and along the right hand-side of the picture plane. At the bottom of the canvas, an explosion of yellow and orange erupts from beneath the inky top coat, punctuating the otherwise somber composition with a burst of brilliant energy. At over six feet in height, the painting is an infrequent large-scale example of his early work. The sheer scale envelopes the viewer in midnight hues and contrasting interspersed fragments of color, creating an all-encompassing feeling akin to being embraced by the picture.
Even though Francis’ legacy is closely associated with the New York School, he adopted a painting style that melded American Abstract Expressionism, with elements of European Impressionism and Post-Impressionism which he encountered while living in Europe. At the turn of the 1950s Francis was already starting to gain recognition in the US from notable critics including Clement Greenberg, but he felt he had to leave his native California Bay Area for Paris to develop his craft. At that point in time Francis had only been making art for six years, having taken up painting in 1944 while recuperating from an injury sustained as a member of the US Army Air Corps. Upon his arrival in Paris in 1950, the artist became enthralled by the likes of Pierre Bonnard, Claude Monet, and Henri Matisse for their deft handling of color and light, and they would become important inspirations. He also befriended some of his contemporaries including Jean-Paul Riopelle, whose friendship would also become an influence.
In the early 1950s Francis was among the first artists of his generation to use black in his work. Others such as Ad Reinhardt started experimenting with black in 1954 and Pierre Soulages eventually made black the focus of his entire career. But unlike others, light and its relationship to color remained Francis’ focus. It was black’s property of absorbing light that interested him, allowing contrasting colors such as yellow, blue, and red to shine through with greater and more intense luminosity, a phenomenon that is particularly pronounced in Black (Deepened Black). Describing his process, Francis said “I start by painting the entire canvas white. As the other colors are added, it becomes less intense. I add black to bring back the intensity.” (Quoted in Sam Francis Paintings: 1947-1972 exhibition catalog, Albright-Knox Gallery, New York, 1972, page 19.) The pared down monochromatic style of the black paintings earned Francis critical acclaim and led critic David L. Shirley to proclaim “His best canvases, I feel, are the ones that diminish the role of color” (NY Times, April 24, 1971 page. 25).
Francis’ big break arrived just two years after the completion of Black (Deepened Black), when he was invited to exhibit his work in the U.S. State Department-sponsored exhibition “Twelve American Painters and Sculptors” in 1953, which presented a handful of U.S. artists in Europe, where Francis’ paintings hung alongside artists such as Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock, and Alexander Calder, and more. In 1956 he was also included in the seminal exhibition “12 Americans” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York with Philip Guston, Franz Kline, and Grace Hartigan, and thus placing him firmly among the leading artists of his generation.
Testifying to the importance of the present work, it has been part of several distinguished collections, including the collection of Amélie Noellie Parayre, wife of one of Francis’ great influences, Henri Matisse. The painting later found its way to the esteemed collection of Geraldine and Harold Alden who acquired the work in 1985 and held it for more than 35 years. First acquired by Madame Henri Matisse in the 1950s, the present work has been previously housed in the collections of prominent gallerist J. J. Aberbach and legendary cricketer Sir Basil Goulding. This particular work was included in major exhibitions throughout the artist’s lifetime, including the noteworthy mid-career retrospective exhibition of Francis’ work that originated at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in 1972 (now Buffalo AKG Art Museum), before traveling to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Dallas Art Museum, Dallas; and the Oakland Museum, Oakland. Now this extraordinary work representing a pivotal moment of change and transition in Francis’ career comes to the market.
Black (Deepened Black) is an astonishing and quintessential example of Francis’ early Parisian works, a crucial formative moment in his legendary career. The work embodies his highly accomplished understanding of the delicate balance between the light, color, and space, and is unquestionably a masterwork among the rare early ‘black paintings’ that would eventually blossom into the unique brand of abstraction featuring his trademark palette and composition on which his stellar reputation rests, and what he is remembered for today.
