- 520
SAM FRANCIS | Untitled
Estimate
150,000 - 200,000 HKD
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Description
- Sam Francis
- Untitled
- acrylic on paper
- 46 by 37.6 cm; 18⅛ by 14¾ in.
inscribed Sam Francis 1973 LA on the label affixed to the reverse
Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner
This work is identified with the interim identification number of SF73-152 in consideration for the forthcoming Sam Francis: Catalogue Raisonné of Unique Works on Paper. This information is subject to change as scholarship continues by the Sam Francis Foundation.
This work is identified with the interim identification number of SF73-152 in consideration for the forthcoming Sam Francis: Catalogue Raisonné of Unique Works on Paper. This information is subject to change as scholarship continues by the Sam Francis Foundation.
Exhibited
Los Angeles, Los Angeles Pierce College Art Gallery, Sam Francis: Gouaches, 23 February – 12 March 1976
Condition
This work is in excellent condition overall. No apparent condition issue observed. Framed under glass.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
A DISTINGUISHED SELECTION OF
SAM FRANCIS WORKS FROM AN
EMINENT JAPANESE MUSEUM COLLECTION
Sotheby's is honoured to present Lots 520 to 528, an exquisite selection of nine works by Sam Francis spanning over twenty years from the artist's highly acclaimed oeuvre. Serving as a mini retrospective, the carefully assembled collection hails from an eminent private Japanese museum collection and brings together a rare collection of fresh-to-auction works on paper, a canvas work and an acrylic on panel work. Mostly never before exhibited to the public, these works showcase Francis's artistic acumen across mediums whilst also marking different stylistic developments seen in Francis's oeuvre in accordance to the several geographical locations he inhabited.
A Californian by birth, Francis was first influenced by the works of Clyfford Still, Ad Reinhardt, and Mark Rothko who converged and taught in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1940s. Digesting these stylistic precedents, Francis relocated in 1950 to Paris where he became immersed in the rich mesmerizing colours of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. During this period the critic Arnold Rüdlinger wrote that Francis's works "remind the European of Monet's late period. Let there be no mistake – it is not the semblance of colours and the atmosphere that justifies this comparison with Monet, but the miracle that, from an abstract conception, bursts forth the image of a lyrical pantheism to which Monet and Bonnard arrived at by means of the figurative" (Arnold Rüdlinger in Exh. Cat., Paris, Centre Culturel Américain, Sam Francis, Shirley Jaffe, Kimber Smith, 1958, n.p.). It was also during this time that the first artists from China and Japan congregated in Paris in the early 1950s, including Zao Wou-ki, Chu Teh-chun, Imai Toshimitsu, Domoto Hisao. Deeply intrigued by Asian philosophies, Francis adapted his style in the mid-1950s to introduce large areas of white, creating an airiness and lightness that breaks up his earlier grid-like all-over compositions of colour.
Noting the East Asian sensibilities in Francis's work, James Johnson Sweeney wrote in a catalogue in 1967 that Francis was "the most sensuous and sensitive American painter of his generation" (James Johnson Sweeney in Exh. Cat., Houston, Museum of Fine Arts (and travelling), Sam Francis, 1967, p. 21). In a career spanning half a century and three continents, Francis charted his own course through the global landscape of abstraction, creating a corpus that is at once a synthesis of diverse inspirations and a deeply personal endeavour toward self-discovery. Francis's works are housed in eminent international museum collections such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the MoMA and Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Kunstmuseum Basel in Switzerland, among others.
SAM FRANCIS WORKS FROM AN
EMINENT JAPANESE MUSEUM COLLECTION
Sotheby's is honoured to present Lots 520 to 528, an exquisite selection of nine works by Sam Francis spanning over twenty years from the artist's highly acclaimed oeuvre. Serving as a mini retrospective, the carefully assembled collection hails from an eminent private Japanese museum collection and brings together a rare collection of fresh-to-auction works on paper, a canvas work and an acrylic on panel work. Mostly never before exhibited to the public, these works showcase Francis's artistic acumen across mediums whilst also marking different stylistic developments seen in Francis's oeuvre in accordance to the several geographical locations he inhabited.
A Californian by birth, Francis was first influenced by the works of Clyfford Still, Ad Reinhardt, and Mark Rothko who converged and taught in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1940s. Digesting these stylistic precedents, Francis relocated in 1950 to Paris where he became immersed in the rich mesmerizing colours of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. During this period the critic Arnold Rüdlinger wrote that Francis's works "remind the European of Monet's late period. Let there be no mistake – it is not the semblance of colours and the atmosphere that justifies this comparison with Monet, but the miracle that, from an abstract conception, bursts forth the image of a lyrical pantheism to which Monet and Bonnard arrived at by means of the figurative" (Arnold Rüdlinger in Exh. Cat., Paris, Centre Culturel Américain, Sam Francis, Shirley Jaffe, Kimber Smith, 1958, n.p.). It was also during this time that the first artists from China and Japan congregated in Paris in the early 1950s, including Zao Wou-ki, Chu Teh-chun, Imai Toshimitsu, Domoto Hisao. Deeply intrigued by Asian philosophies, Francis adapted his style in the mid-1950s to introduce large areas of white, creating an airiness and lightness that breaks up his earlier grid-like all-over compositions of colour.
Noting the East Asian sensibilities in Francis's work, James Johnson Sweeney wrote in a catalogue in 1967 that Francis was "the most sensuous and sensitive American painter of his generation" (James Johnson Sweeney in Exh. Cat., Houston, Museum of Fine Arts (and travelling), Sam Francis, 1967, p. 21). In a career spanning half a century and three continents, Francis charted his own course through the global landscape of abstraction, creating a corpus that is at once a synthesis of diverse inspirations and a deeply personal endeavour toward self-discovery. Francis's works are housed in eminent international museum collections such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the MoMA and Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Kunstmuseum Basel in Switzerland, among others.