Spheres of AbEx - Heather James Fine Art
Spheres of AbEx - Heather James Fine Art Spheres of AbEx - Heather James Fine Art
SAM FRANCIS (1923-1994) was born in San Mateo, California, andstudied botany, medicine and psychology at the University of California,Berkeley. He served in the United States Air Force during World War IIbefore being injured in a plane crash. He was in the hospital for severalyears with spinal tuberculosis, and it was while there that he began topaint. Once out of the hospital he returned to Berkeley, this time to studyart. Francis was initially influenced by the work of Abstract Expressionistssuch as Mark Rothko, Arshile Gorky and Clyfford Still. He spent the 1950sin Paris, having his first exhibition there in 1952. While there he becameassociated with Tachisme. He later spent time in Japan, and some haveseen an influence from Zen Buddhism in his work. Francis spent some timein Paris executing entirely monochromatic works, but his mature piecesare generally large oil paintings with splashed or splattered areas of brightcontrasting color. Areas of white canvas are often left to show through,and in later works, paint is sometimes confined to the edges of the canvas.Luminous and painterly, rather than gestural, his “signature” paintings ofthe early 1950s are overlays of serial but asymmetrical biomorphic formssaturated with color. The mid 50s saw Francis include fields of varioussized clusters of cell-like shapes usually in blue, yellow, and red on a whiteground. Francis returned to California during the 1960s and continuedpainting in Los Angeles. During the final three decades of his careerhis style of large scale bright Abstract Expressionism was also closelyassociated with Color Field painting.
SAMFRANCIS
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- Page 6 and 7: UntitledSigned lower right Mary Abb
- Page 9 and 10: PresenceSigned lower right M A;sign
- Page 12 and 13: KAREL APPEL (1921-2006) was a Dutch
- Page 15 and 16: Kra-13Signed lower right AppelAcryl
- Page 18 and 19: NORMAN BLUHM (1921-1999) embraced a
- Page 21 and 22: Tic-Tac-ToeSigned and dated lower l
- Page 23: UntitledSigned and dated lower righ
- Page 26 and 27: WARREN BRANDT (1918-2002) was born
- Page 29 and 30: Rock Island BlindSigned and dated l
- Page 31 and 32: LYNNEMAPP DREXLER
- Page 34 and 35: UntitledSigned and dated verso L. D
- Page 37 and 38: Early SpringSigned and dated lower
- Page 39: FRIEDELDZUBAS
- Page 42: Red FlightSigned on versoOil on can
- Page 45: LOUISEFISHMAN
- Page 53 and 54: Untitled (Black and White Compositi
- Page 55: JOHNGRILLO
- Page 58: UntitledSigned and dated lower righ
- Page 61: MICHAELGOLDBERG
- Page 64: Landscape (On the way to New Lisbon
- Page 67: HANSHOFMANN
- Page 70 and 71: PAUL JENKINS (b. 1923) was raised n
- Page 73 and 74: Phenomena Prism Wind AnvilSigned lo
- Page 75: WILLEMde KOONING
- Page 78 and 79: JOHN LITTLE (1907-1984) was born in
- Page 81 and 82: Ominous NightSigned and dated lower
- Page 84 and 85: MICHAEL LOEW (1907-1985) was one of
- Page 87 and 88: ArcadianSigned lower right LoewOil
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- Page 92 and 93: ROBERT NATKIN (1930-2010) was born
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SAMFRANCIS
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