NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s presents an exclusive online sale of works by the abstract painter and printmaker, Sam Francis, open for bidding from 19 November to 2 December 2014. Comprising 76 lots representing three decades of the artist’s creativity, from 1960-1990, the sale includes exceptional prints, rare colour trial proofs and monotypes and a selection of acrylics on paper and canvas. Estimates range from £1,000 to £60,000, offering an inspiring opportunity for both new and existing collectors to purchase these vibrant works. To begin bidding please visit
here
While studying botany, medicine and psychology at the University of California, Francis was called to serve in the United States Air Force during the Second World War. Injured in training in 1943 he was hospitalized and took up painting from his hospital bed. It was while making studies of the shifting light passing across the walls of the ward that Francis discovered his interest in light and space, which would continue to be an inspiration throughout his life. In 1950, Francis enrolled at Fernand Leger’s private academy in Paris, and in the following decade moved between Paris, New York and Japan, where he absorbed the influences of the modern French masters and the New York School, as well as Eastern philosophy and Zen calligraphy. Developing his own very distinctive brand of West Coast abstraction, it is possibly on paper, in his acrylic paintings and prints, that the luminous beauty of his work can most readily be appreciated.
Sam Francis Prints and Works on Paper
• Yunan State IV Lithograph in colours, on Kikuban Torinoko paper, 1971 Sheet: 525 x 732 mm. Estimate: £2,000-3,000
• Blue-Green Lithograph in colours, on watermarked BFK Rives wove paper, 1963 Image and Sheet: 632 x 905 mm. Estimate: £1,200-1,800
• Untitled Lithograph in colours, on watermarked BFK Rives wove paper, 1967 Estimate: £2,000-3,000
• Untitled Acrylic on paper, 1980 Sheet: 385 x 476 mm. Estimate: £9,000-12,000
• Untitled Acrylic, on Japan paper, 1986 Estimate: £45,000-60,000
• Untitled Screenprint in colours, on wove paper, 1986 Sheet: 2134 x 1503 mm. Estimate: £7,000-10,000
