Francis, Samuel Lewis

▪ 1995

      ("SAM"), U.S. painter (b. June 25, 1923, San Mateo, Calif.—d. Nov. 4, 1994, Santa Monica, Calif.), applied coloured stains to pure white canvases to create a luminescent effect that was rooted in the subtle influences of French and Japanese painting. After 1970, however, his works became more bold; heavy stripes were complemented with splattered drips and blobs in contrasting colours. Francis, who initially studied medicine, took up painting in a hospital while recovering from spinal tuberculosis, an affliction that resulted from an airplane crash when he was serving with the U.S. Air Force during World War II. He studied at the California School of Fine Art, San Francisco, before moving (1950) to Paris to attend Fernand Léger's private academy. Though Francis was associated with the second generation of New York Abstract Expressionist painters—those artists who relied on an emotional approach to the conception and execution of their works—he cultivated his style in Paris, where he was inspired by the works of Cézanne, Monet, and Matisse, especially the latter's expressions of pure colour. In 1952 Francis established an international reputation with his first one-man show in Paris; he made his New York City debut in 1956 with a solo exhibition at the Martha Jackson Gallery. The following year he visited East Asia, gaining insight into Japanese art and Buddhist meditative techniques. In the late 1950s Francis completed commissions for murals at the Sofu School of flower arrangement in Tokyo and at the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City. He returned (1960s) to California and took up residence in the Los Angeles area. He was a founding trustee of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

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