Sam Francis Pages 104-105, (1 CENT LIFE Portfolio) 1964
Sam Francis Pages 78-83, (1 CENT LIFE Portfolio) 1964
Sam Francis Pages x-15, (1 CENT LIFE Portfolio) 1964
Sam Francis Self Portrait 1982
Sam Francis Untitled 1986
Biography
1923
Born June 25 in San Mateo, CA
1943 - 1948
Served in the United States Army Corps and began painting whilst convalescing from an injury
1949
B.A. University of California at Berkeley, CA
1946 - 1950
Began painting in San Francisco
1950
M.A. University of California at Berkeley, CA
1950 - 1958
Lived and worked in Paris, with travels to Mexico, Japan and Europe
1959
Lived in New York City
1959 - 1961
Lived in Bern, Switzerland
1961
Established permanent home in Santa Monica
1968
Received honorary PhD from University of California at Berkeley, CA
1970
Established the Litho Shop to print his own lithographs in Santa Monica
1973 - 1974
Lived and painted primarily in Tokyo, Japan
1975 - 1977
Began collaborating with Garner Tullis on monotpyes at the Institute of Experimental Printing
1981
Appointed Commandeur de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, by the French Ministry of Culture
1984
Established Lapis Press to publish artists' books
1987 - 1989
Founded the Sam Francis Medical Research Center to support the research of infectious and environmental diseases
1993
Donated ten major paintings to The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
1994
Honoured with Distinguished Alumnus Award by the University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, which also then created the Sam Francis Scholarship
1994
Died November 4, Santa Monica
Exhibitions
2009
"Time & Place: Los Angeles, 1958-1968", Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland
2008
'Choices', Galerie Willy Schoots, Eindhoven
2008
Action Painting, Foundation Beyeler, Riehen
2008
"Time & Place: Los Angeles, 1958-1968", Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
2007
Grand Gestures: The Gordon F. Hampton Collection, UAM - University Art Museum, Long Beach, CA
2007
Art Market Now, The Columns, Seoulq
2006
Afro & incotri e Confronti italia America, Gallerie d'Arte Moderna di Udine GAMUD, Udine
2005
Intuitive Reflection, Art Forum Ute Barth, Zurich
2005
Austrian contemporary Art and Postwar Painting, Museo de Art Contemporaneo de Monerrey MARCO, Monterrey, NL
2004
Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie, Bielefeld
2004
Galerie Delaive, Amsterdam
2004
Baukunst Galerie, Cologne
2003
Timothy Yarger Fine Art, Beverly Hills, California, Special Proofs, 1963-1989
2003
Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
2003
Iwaki City Art, Fukushima, Japan
2003
Oita Art Museum, Oita, Japan
2002 - 2003
Galerie Iris Wazzau, Davos, Switzerland
2002
Galerie Andreas Baumgarti, Munich
2002
Lovers Fine Arts, Gstaad, Switzerland
2002
Museum of Modern Art, Toyama, Japan
2002
Kawamura Memorial Museum, Chiba, Japan
2002
Museum of Art, Eime, Japan
2002
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Michigan
2001
Alan Cristea Gallery, London, in association with Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art
1999 - 2001
Sam Francis: Paintings 1947-1990, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles- travelled to Menil Collection, Texas; Malmo Konsthall, Sweden; the Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain; Galleria Comunale d'Art Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome
2000
Lawrence Rubin, Greenberg, Van Doren Fine Art, New York
2000
Galerie Delaive, Amsterdam, Holland
2000
Richard Gray Gallery, New York and Chicago
2000
Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo and Osaka, Japan
1999
Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Los Angeles; Robert Green Fine Arts, California; Gallery Faurschou, Copenhagen; Ikon Ltd., Los Angeles; Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles; Galerie Pascal Retelet, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Baukunst Galerie, Cologne; Pace Editions, New York; Galerie Loeper, Hamburg
1999
Retrospective: Sam Francis: Paintings 1947-1990, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
1998
Dorothy Blau Gallery, Florida; Thomas Segal Gallery, Baltimore; ACA Galerie, Münich; Gallery Guy Pieters, Knokke, Belguim; Bobbie Greenfield Gallery, Los Angeles; Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam; Galleria d’Arte il Gabbiano, Rome
1997
Sam Francis: The Archetypal Image, Frederick M. Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University of Malibu – travelled to The Fundación Caja de Madrid, Spain
1997
André Emmerich Gallery, New York; Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles; Museo d’Arte, Mendrisio, Switzerland; Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago; Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam; Galerie Pascal Retelet, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
1996
Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto; Sogetsu Art Museum, Tokyo; Galerie Delaive, Amsterdam; Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles; Gallery Guy Pieters, Knokke, Belgium; Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin; Galerie Proarta, Zürich
1995
The Last Paintings of Sam Francis at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art
1995
André Emmerich Gallery, New York; Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles; Grunwald/UCLA/Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles;
1995
Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, Germany; Les Années Parisiennes 1950-1961 at the Galerie National du Jeu de Paume, Paris
1995
'The Last Paintings of Sam Francis' a group of 152 small paintings (painted June through August, 1994, at the Santa Monica house studio), The Los Angeles County Museum of Art
1994
Honored with Distinguished Alumnus Award by The University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, which also then created the Sam Francis Scholarship
1994
Long Fine Arts, New York; Galerie Delaive, Amsterdam; Bobbie Greenfield Gallery, Los Angeles; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Galerie Proarta, Zurich; Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo; Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago
1993
Retrospective exhibition at Kunst und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, Germany
1993
Galerie Pudelko, Bonn, Switzerland; Bobbie Greenfield Fine Art, Los Angeles; Michele Cohen Gallery, New York; Ochi Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho; Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angels; Galerie Iris Wazzau, Davos
1993
Donated ten major paintings to The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
1992
Galerie Daniel Papierski, Paris
1992
Museum van der Togt, Amsterdam, Holland
1992
Kukje Gallery, Seoul, Korea
1991
Retrospective at Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, Switzerland
1991
Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; James Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles; Angles Gallery, Los Angeles; Associated American Artists, New York; Gagosian Gallery, New York; Centre Régional d’Art Contemporain Midi-Pyrenées, France
1990
Associated American Artists, New York; GalleryDelaive, Amsterdam; Heland Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm; Ogawa Art Foundation, Tokyo; Ochi Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho; Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh; Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto
1989
André Emmerich Gallery, New York, Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London; Sun Valley Center Gallery, Idaho; Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle; Cantor/Lemberg Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan; Knoedler Gallery, London
1987 - 1989
Founded the Sam Francis Medical Research Center to support the research of infectious and environmental diseases
1988
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo; Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto; Greenberg Gallery, St. Louis; Galerie Seoul, Korea
1988
Travelling exhibition throughout Japan organized by The Museum of Modern Art, Toyama and Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1987
Knoedler Gallery, London; Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Pamela Auchincloss Gallery, Santa Barbara; Heland Thorden Wetterling Galleries, Stockholm, Sweden; G. Dalsheimer Gallery, Baltimore; Galeria Eude, Barcelona, Spain; Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles; Galerie Pudelko, Bonn, Germany; Lever/Meyerson Galleries, New York
1986
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Nantenshi Gallery, Toyko; Angles Gallery, Santa Monica; La Mairie de Paris, France
André Emmerich Gallery, New York; Pamela Auchincloss, Gallery, Santa Barbara; Brooke Alexander, Inc., New York; Cantor/Lemberg Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan; Robert Elkon Gallery, New York; Thomas Babeor Gallery, La Jolla; Knoedler Gallery, London, UK; Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles; Steven Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco
1983
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, Switzerland; Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto; Foundation Maeght, Saint Paul de Vence, France; Studio Marconi, Milan, Italy; Colorado State University, Colorado; Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris; Art Attack Gallery, Idaho; John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco; nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1982
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1981
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Ace Gallery, Los Angeles; Ruth Schaffner Gallery, Santa Barbara; Faith and Charity in Hope Gallery, Idaho
1980
Riko Mizuno Gallery, Los Angeles; James Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles; Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto; Abbaye de Senanque, Gordes, France; Los Angeles County Museum of Art
1979
Retrospective of works on paper at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston – traveled to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Manila, Korea and Japan under the US International Communications Agency
1979
Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris, France; Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York; Brooke Alexander, Inc., New York; Art in Progress at Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1979
Gallery of the Cultural Center of the Phillippines, Taipei, Taiwan
1978
Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles; Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles; Musee National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
1977
Art in Progress at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art at Humlebćk, Denmark – traveled to Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm
1975 - 1977
Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles
1975 - 1977
Galerie Jean Fournier, Paris, France
1975 - 1977
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York
1975 - 1977
Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1975 - 1977
Galerie Kornfeld und Klipstein, Bern, Switzerland
1975 - 1977
Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto, California
1975 - 1977
Began collaborating with Garner Tullis on monotypes at the Institute of Experimental Printmaking, San Francisco
1974
Minami Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1974
Idemitsu Art Museum, Tokyo
1972
Retrospective solo museum exhibition at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, which traveled to Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Texas, and Oakland Museum of Art, California. Exhibit at the Stanford University Museum of Art, CA
1969 - 1972
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York
1969 - 1972
Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles
1969 - 1972
Solo shows at André Emmerich Gallery, New York; Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles
1968
Solo museum exhibition at Centre National d'Art Contemporain, Paris and Kunsthalle Basel. Solo show at Minami Gallery, Tokyo
1968
Kunsthalle Basel
1968
Minami Gallery, Tokyo
1967
Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York
1967
Retrospective at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX- traveled to University Art Museum, Berkeley; San Francisco Museum of Art
1967
Snow Painting performance in Naibara, Japan
1966
Sky painting performance over Tokyo Bay, Japan
1961 - 1964
Minami Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1961 - 1964
Galerie Kornfeld an Klipstein, Bern, Switzerland
1961 - 1964
Galerie Benador, Zurich, Germany
1961 - 1964
Documenta III, useum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany
1961
Esther Bear Gallery, Santa Barbara, California
1960 - 1961
Solo museum show at Kunsthalle, Bern which travels to Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
1959
Mural commission by the Chase Manhattan Bank
1959
Solo exhibition at Pasadena Art Museum, California which travels to San Francisco Museum of Art, California and Seattle Art Museum, Washington
1958
The Phillips Gallery, Washington, DC
1957 - 1958
Hyakkaten Department Store, Tokyo, Japan
1957 - 1958
Kintetsu Department Store, Osaka, Japan
1957
Gimpel Fils, London
1956
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York
1956
Galerie Rive Droite, Paris
1956
'12 Americans' The Museum of Modern Art, New York
1955
Galerie Rive Droite, Paris
1955
Tendances actuelles de l’Ecole de Paris III at Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland
