Untitled (SFF.1703)

Details

The work is registered in the Sam Francis Foundation, Glendale, California under the archive number SFP94-16.
Burchett-Lere SFF.1703.

Exhibition:

Sam Francis: The last works, County Museum of Art, Los Angeles 1995/Galleri Faurschou, Copenhagen, with col. illus;

Sam Francis: The Last Works, Galleri Faurschou, Copenhagen 1999, with b/w. Illus. pp. 12-13;

Sam Francis: De siste arbeider, Kaare Berntsen Galleri, Oslo 2005, cat. no. 8, with col. illus. p. 27;

Sam Francis – The Last Works, Galerie von Vertes, Zurich 2014, cat. no. 3. with col. Illus. p. 25 and 39;

Sam Francis, Samuelis Bamgarte Gallery, Bielefeld 2017, with col. ill. 46-47;

The American Avant-Garde, Galerie von Vertes, Zurich 2022, with col. illus.

Provenance:

Estate of the artist, California;

Galleri Faurschou, Copenhagen;

Kaare Berntsen Galleri, Oslo;

Mark Borghi Fine Art, New York, on the reverse with the label.

Private collection, Switzerland .

Description

In the last months of Sam Francis’ life, he created the coveted “Last Works” series, to which the work “SFP94-16” also belongs. These works embody the artist’s tireless creative drive and his passion for expressive colour and gesture. From July to September 1994, Francis was confined to a wheelchair due to his declining health. He was only able to use his left arm and created around 170 paintings, 152 of which are now known as “The Last Works”. Each of these works bears an individual date of completion on the reverse, in this case 11 July 1994. Opulent pours of colour in oceanic blue unfold against a white background, condensing into a harmonious composition with energetic splashes of bright red. The “Last Works” series was exhibited at the County Museum of Art in Los Angeles and the Galleri Faurschou in Copenhagen in 1995, the year after the artist’s death.