Francis, Sam

Description:

San Mateo/Kalifornien, 1923 - Santa Monica, 1994
111,5 x 71,5 cm, R.
Untitled, 1990. Acrylic on heavy wove paper. Signed in ink lower left, dated and inscribed on the reverse "For Good old Ting from Bad old Sam".
The work is registered in the Sam Francis Foundation under number SF89-200.
Walasse Ting, New York and Amsterdam.
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam.
Private collection, Germany, acquired at Art Cologne.
Kornfeld Galerie & Cie, Bern, auction "Kunst des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts", 21 June 2002, lot 36 (however incorrectly dated there).
Kunsthandel Brigitte Büdenhölzer, Emmendingen.
Collection Monika and Horst Bülow, Leonberg, acquired there in 2002.
Exhibition:
"Sam Francis - Works on Paper", Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam 1994, p. 21 (with colour fig.).
Sam Francis is among the most important representatives of Abstract Expressionism and Colour Field painting in the postwar era. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, his work attained a new expressive intensity, uniting the spontaneity of painterly gesture with the radiance of large-scale compositions.
The present work, executed in 1990 on heavy wove paper, is an outstanding example of this late phase. Across the entire surface unfolds a dense, energetic choreography of colour explosions in violet, yellow, blue, green, and red. Drops, splashes, and broad overlays create an almost cosmic effect, in which colour is perceived as an autonomous event. Particularly striking are the luminous yellow fields, which hover like beams of light above the dense structure, rhythmically structuring the composition.
The sheet holds a special distinction through the personal dedication on the verso: "For good old Ting from Bad old Sam". The dedication refers to the close friend and fellow artist Walasse Ting (1929-2010), with whom Francis shared decades of artistic and personal exchange. Such dedicated works are rare and add an additional dimension of provenance and collector appeal.
Large-scale works on paper from the late 1980s and early 1990s regularly achieve prices between €70,000 and €120,000 on the international auction market, depending on palette, format, and provenance. Personally dedicated works - particularly those referencing fellow artists - carry added desirability.
Comparable sheets from this period are found in major collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Registration with the Sam Francis Foundation (SF89-200) confirms the authenticity and underscores the museum significance of the work.
The present sheet combines monumental scale, chromatic brilliance, and personal dedication - a rare combination that makes it an especially desirable work within Sam Francis’s late oeuvre.