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Sam Francis was born in San Mateo, California and would become one of America’s renowned Abstract artists. Francis was not initially interested in art, and was a student of medicine and psychology at the University of California in Berkeley. The onset of World War II sent Francis into action where he served in the Air Force. However, a plane crash left him wounded and hospitalized for many years, plagued with spinal tuberculosis. While convalescing, Francis discovered art to pass the time. Upon his release and return to Berkeley, he had changed his course to study art and eventually received a BA and an MA.

In the 1950s, Francis moved to Paris, where he was influenced by Abstract artists such as Rothko and Still. While in Paris, his paintings were primarily one color compositions, but eventually he would create splashed oil paintings, similar to the work of Pollock, whom he also studied and admired.

This particular style of Abstract art was called “Tachisme” by the French. “Tachisme” is a non-geometric Abstract style which is executive with impulsive splashes or “tache” in French. The bulk of Francis’s work is in this improvisational style.

Francis also spent a great deal of time in Japan, which would also have an effect on his painting. He studied Zen Buddhism while in Japan, and it is reflected in some of his later works. This oriental influence can be seen in his compositions with excess white space and thin paint texture. It is this phase of using the oriental theory of “negative space” that also helped to transition Francis into Minimal Art.

Besides painting, Francis was also a sculptor and print maker. In fact, Francis is said to have been one of the first Abstract artists to bring his art to a broader graphic media through lithography. He even had a print shop of his own, aptly named The Litho Shop, where he was able to recreate his work through etching and lithography. He continued to work in his shop creating screen prints and aquatints nearly until his death in 1994.

Much of Francis’s art can be seen today in modern art museums around the world today, especially in Europe, Japan and The United States. Like the work of so many other Abstract artists, Francis’s work may be interpreted by some as random or unorganized. However, he had a method to all of his art which either was mean to show space, light or symmetry and patterns. It is for this reason that Abstract art is sometimes hard to distinguish from one artist to the next. Still not sure about that mysterious Abstract piece in your home? Call us for a professional opinion.