Artist Pubs
Sam Lewis Francis

Auction Records (4196)   For Sale (3)   Bio/Info   Free Alerts  
Upcoming (13) Wanted (3) Related Artists (24) Pricing my art
Charts (6) Dealers (15) Signatures (26)
Sam Lewis Francis (1923 - 1994) was active/lived in California / Japan, France.  Sam Francis is known for Splatter-stain imagery painting, graphics.

Biography photo for Sam Lewis Francis
© 2001 Estate of Sam Francis / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
 An Abstract Expressionist* painter known for his brilliant coloration and splotch-like shapes, Sam Francis became one of the big-name modernist artists of the second half of the 20th century.  He was much influenced by Clyfford Styll and Mark Rothko.  Unlike the creations of many of the Abstract Expressionists and the Bay Area Figurative* painters, his work was light and airy and increasingly decorative.  Seeking his own approach to abstraction*, he spent much of his career out of the United States, especially in France.

Of his painting, Sam Francis said that he wanted to make "something that fills utterly the sight and can't be used to make life only bearable". (Herskovic 130)

Sam Francis was born in San Mateo, California, and attended the University of California at Berkeley from 1941 to 1943.  He studied psychology and pre-med and then went into the Army Air Corps where he was in an air crash that led to spinal tuberculosis.  Reco   ...  [Displaying 1000 of 28206 characters.]  Artist bio

Artist auction records

.  askART's database currently holds 4196 auction lots for Sam Lewis Francis (of which 3191 auction records sold and 13 are upcoming at auction.)

Artist artworks for sale and wanted

.  There are 3 artworks for sale on our website by galleries and art dealers . There are 15 galleries and art dealers listing works of art by Sam Lewis Francis as either "Wanted" or "For Sale" .

Research resources

.  askART lists Sam Lewis Francis in 2 of its research Essays. Sam Lewis Francis has 26 artist signature examples available in our database.

Similar artists

.  There are 24 similar (related) artists for Sam Lewis Francis available:    Jim Dine,  Helen Frankenthaler,  Robert Burns Motherwell,  Frank Stella,  Tom Wesselmann,  Roy Lichtenstein,  Robert Rauschenberg,  Sol LeWitt,  David Hockney,  Paul Jenkins,  Alexander (Sandy) Calder,  Willem de Kooning,  Andy Warhol,  Keith Haring,  Robert E Indiana,  Wayne Thiebaud,  Karel Christiaan Appel,  Alex Katz,  Richard Diebenkorn,  Josef Albers,  Ed Ruscha,  Hans Hofmann,  Adolph Gottlieb,  James Rosenquist



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Facts about Sam Lewis Francis

   Publications  Book References:  167
Magazine References:  17

The listed publications are derived from what askART has identified from our research for this artist and are intended as an additional tool for information. askART has derived Publications as an aid to members, but it is not necessarily a complete list.
17 Miscellaneous Magazine References for Sam Lewis Francis
Magazine Article Date Author Color
ARTnews Art Market November 2004 Kinsella, Eileen Yes
ARTnews Art Market April 2004 Editors, ARTnews Yes
Art & Antiques Driven to Abstraction March 2003 Arbitman, Karen Jones No
Art & Antiques The Top 100 Collectors in America March 2003 Cochran, B.L. and R.D Yes
ARTFORUM February 1973 February 2003 Alloway, Lawrence Yes
ARTnews "Steering by the Torch of Chaos and December 2002 Protzman, Ferdinand Yes
Art & Auction Market Place April 2001 Editors Yes
ARTnews Double Feature November 2000 Rowlands, Penelope Yes
ARTFORUM Preview Fall 2000 September 2000 Editors, ARTForum Yes
Art & Auction The Art Show February 2000 Adams, Rebecca Knapp Yes
Art & Auction Talk of the Trade: L.A. Diary November 1999 Rosenberg, Jeremy Yes
ARTnews Art Talk April 1999 Editors, ARTnews Yes
ARTnews Reviews January 1998 Editors, Art News Yes
Art & Antiques Sketchbook September 1997 Wallis, Stephen No
ARTnews Art News February 1997 Editors, Art News No
Art in America Bay Area Bravura September 1996 Duncan, Michael Yes
ARTnews REviews April 1995 Matthew Marks Yes
167 Book References for Sam Lewis Francis
Year Author Title Pages Color
2011 Agee, William; Edited by Burchett-Lere, Debra Sam Francis Catalogue Raisonne of Canvas and Panel Paintings, 1946-1994 320 Yes
2005 AskART.com Inc. -
Dunbier, Lonnie Pierson (Editor)		 The Artists Bluebook 34,000 North American Artists to March 2005 479 No
2005 Davenport, Ray Davenport's Art Reference: The Gold Edition 2421 No
2003 Herskovic, Marika (editor) American Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s: An Illustrated Survey 372 Yes
2003 Sherman, Charlotte (Essay) With an Eye and a Passion: Selections from The Marion Collection 38 Yes
2002 McClelland, Gordon T; Jay T. Last California Watercolors 1850-1970, An Illustrated History & Biographical Dictionary 231 Yes
2002 Shea, Patricia (Editor) Picasso to Pop: The Richard Weisman Collection 124 No
2000 Skold, Stacey (compiler) Art Enterprises: Selections from the Collection 195 Yes
1999 Falk, Peter Hastings (Editor) Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975: Three Volumes 3724 No
1999 Passantino, Erika D (editor) The Eye of Duncan Phillips A Collection in the Making 819 Yes
1998 Moure, Nancy Dustin Wall California Art: 450 Years of Painting & Other Media 560 Yes
1997 Burgard, Timothy Anglin Bay Area Art From Morgan Flagg Collection 47 Yes
1996 Barbara and Peter Toohil Accents on Artists A fact-filled pronunciation guide. Over 800 artist’s names you should know… 363 Yes
1996 Hopps, Walter (others) American Images/The SBC Collection of 20th Century American Art 320 Yes
1996 Landauer, Susan The San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism
(Exhibition catalog)		 271 Yes
1995 Hansen, Trudy (others) Printmaking in America Collaborative Prints and Presses 1960-1990 248 Yes
1995 Lucie-Smith, Edward Art Today 512 Yes
1994 LeClair, Charles The Art of Watercolor (Revised Edition) 144 No
1993 Bowker R R Who's Who in American Art, 1993-1994, 20th Edition (American Federation of Arts) 1473 No
1993 Eitner, Lorenz (others) The Drawing Collection Stanford University Museum of Art 418 Yes
1993 Joachimides, Christos (others) American Art in the 20th Century Painting and Sculpture 1913-1993
(Exhibition catalog)		 490 Yes
1992 National Gallery of Art American Paintings An Illustrated Catalogue
(Exhibition catalog)		 545 No
1991 Hoffman, Katherine Explorations The Visual Arts since 1945 400 Yes
1991 John Berggruen Gallery Large Scale Works on Paper
(Exhibition catalog)		 47 Yes
1991 Wheeler, Daniel Art Since Mid Century 1945 to the Present 344 Yes
1990 Leavitt, Thomas (Intro); Richard Schwartz; Frank H.T. Rhodes Cornell Collects: A Celebration of American Art from the Collections of Alumni and Friends, Cornell University
(Exhibition catalog)		 196 Yes
1989 Hopkins, Henry California Painters/New Work 143 Yes
1989 Lynton, Norbert The Story of Modern Art 400 Yes
1989 Naylor, Colin (editor) Contemporary Artists (3rd Edition) 1059 No
1989 Sparks, Esther Universal Limited Art Editions History and Catalogue/the 1st 25 Years 552 Yes
1988 Berggruen, John John Berggruen Gallery Works on Paper
(Exhibition catalog)		 97 Yes
1988 Clarke, David J The Influence of Oriental Thought on Postwar American Painting and Sculpture 410 No
1988 Finch, Christopher Twentieth Century Watercolors 310 Yes
1988 Geske, Norman and Karen O. Janovy The American Painting Collection of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery 376 Yes
1988 Marrow, Marva Inside the L A Artist 104 Yes
1988 Read, Herbert A Concise History of Modern Painting 418 Yes
1987 Brutvan, Cheryl Masterworks on Paper from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery 168 Yes
1987 Cummings, Paul Dictionary of Contemporary American Artists (5th Edition) 653 No
1987 Feldman, Edmund Burke Varieties of Visual Experience (3rd edition) 528 Yes
1987 Krane, Susan Albright-Knox Art Gallery Painting and Sculpture/Acquisitions since 1972 379 Yes
1987 Schultz, Douglas (Intro) 125 Masterpieces: From the Collection of Albright-Knox 264 Yes
1986 Finch, Christopher American Watercolors 312 Yes
1986 Hunter, Sam An American Renaissance Painting and Sculpture Since 1940
(Exhibition catalog)		 269 Yes
1986 Jaques Cattell Press Who's Who in American Art-1986 1986 1292 No
1986 Rose, Barbara American Painting: The Twentieth Century (Second edition) 170 Yes
1986 Tate Gallery Forty Years of Modern Art 1945-19
(Exhibition catalog)		 120 Yes
1986 Zellman, Michael David 300 Years of American Art (two volumes) 1102 Yes
1985 Adams, Henry; John Caldwell, John Lane et all American Drawings and Watercolors In The Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute
(Exhibition catalog)		 314 Yes
1985 Albright, Thomas Art in the San Francisco Bay Area 1945-1980/An Illustrated History 349 Yes
1985 Ashton, Dore (Editor) Twentieth Century Artists on Art 302 No
1985 DuPont, Diana, K Holland San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Paintings and Sculpture Collection 402 Yes
1985 Ecole Nationale/Beaux-Arts Cinquante Ans de Dessins Americai 1930-1980
(Exhibition catalog)		 290 Yes
1985 Krantz, Les American Artists: An Illustrated Survey of Leading Contemporary Americans 347 Yes
1985 Lucie-Smith, Edward American Art Now 160 Yes
1985 Miller, Dorothy C With an Eye to American Art
(Exhibition catalog)		 16 No
1985 Selz, Peter Art In A Turbulent Era 390 No
1984 Bromberg, Anne R Dallas Museum of Art Selected Works 219 Yes
1984 DeCoppet, Laura/Alan Jones The Art Dealers The Powers Behind the Scenes Tell How 320 No
1984 Faunce, Sarah; Linda S. Ferber (Curators) American Watercolors, Pastels, Collages The Brooklyn Museum 88 Yes
1984 Hunter, Sam The Museum of Modern Art, New York The History and the Collection 599 Yes
1984 Lucie-Smith, Edward Movements in Art since 1945 New Revised Edition 288 Yes
1984 Marks, Claude World Artists 1950-1980 912 No
1984 McDonald, Robert; Richard Vincent West Art of the States Works from a Santa Barbara Collection
(Exhibition catalog)		 80 Yes
1984 Orr-Cahill, Christina The Art of California Selected Works/ Oakland Museum 199 Yes
1984 Severinghaus, J Walter Art at Work The Chase Manhattan Collection 333 Yes
1984 Watrous, James American Printmaking A Century of American Printmaking 1880-1980 334 Yes
1983 Adams, Clinton American Lithographers 1900-1960: The Artists and Their Printers 228 Yes
1983 Brown, Milton W 100 Masterpieces of American Painting from Public Collections Washington D C 240 Yes
1983 Kaplan, Ellen Prints A Collector's Guide 253 No
1983 Monterey Peninsula Museum California Contemporary Recent Work of Twenty Three Artists
(Exhibition catalog)		 63 No
1983 Museum of Contemporary Art The First Show (1940-1980) Painting and Sculpture from Eight Collections
(Exhibition catalog)		 293 Yes
1983 Walker, Barry The American Artist as Printmaker
(Exhibition catalog)		 144 Yes
1982 Ashton, Dore American Art Since 1945 224 Yes
1982 Selz, Peter Sam Francis (revised/expanded edition) 296 Yes
1982 Stebbins, Theodore/G Gorokhoff American Paintings at Yale University: An illustrated Checklist
(Exhibition catalog)		 213 No
1981 Armstrong, Tom Amerikanische Malerei 1930-1980
(Exhibition catalog)		 301 Yes
1981 Art Center College of Design Decade Los Angeles Painting in the Seventies
(Exhibition catalog)		 108 Yes
1981 Ball, Maudette Southern California Artists 1940-1980
(Exhibition catalog)		 66 Yes
1981 Goldman, Judith American Prints: Process and Proofs 176 Yes
1981 Hopkins, Henry; Mimi Jacobs (illustration) Fifty West Coast Artists: A Critical Selection of Painters and Sculptors Working in California 128 Yes
1981 Osborne, Harold The Oxford Companion to Twentieth Century Art 656 Yes
1981 Rugoff, Milton The Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art 669 Yes
1981 Smith, Alistair (intro) Larousse Dictionary of Painters (Americans included in world listing) 467 Yes
1981 Tuchman, Maurice Art in Los Angeles: Seventeen Artists in the Sixties Seventeen Artists in the Sixties
(Exhibition catalog)		 162 Yes
1981 Vogt, Paul Contemporary, Painting 134 Yes
1980 Barnett, Vivian Endicott The Guggenheim Museum Collection Handbook/ 1900-1980 526 Yes
1980 Feinblatt, Ebria/Bruce Davis Los Angeles Prints 1883-1980
(Exhibition catalog)		 111 No
1980 Johnson, Una E American Prints and Printmakers A Chronicle of Over 400 Artists 266 Yes
1979 Baigell, Mathew Dictionary of American Art 390 No
1979 Brown, Milton W (others) American Art Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Decorative Arts 616 Yes
1979 Doumato, Lamia American Drawing A Guide to Information Sources 246 No
1979 Karpel, Bernard/Ruth Spiegel Arts in America/A Bibliography Volume 2 (Painting and Graphics) 736 No
1979 Towle, Tony/Peter Gale Contemporary American Prints
(Exhibition catalog)		 64 Yes
1978 California State U Long Beach Frederick Weisman Collection California Art
(Exhibition catalog)		 64 Yes
1978 Sandler, Irving The New York School The Painters & Sculptors of the Fifties 366 Yes
1977 Barr, Alfred H Painting and Sculpture in the Museum of Modern Art 655 No
1977 Pomona College Works on Paper 1900-1960 From Southern California Collections
(Exhibition catalog)		 132 Yes
1977 Prown, Jules/Barbara Rose American Painting From the Colonial Period to the Present 277 Yes
1977 Societe des Expositions American Art in Belgium
(Exhibition catalog)		 175 Yes
1976 Albright-Knox Art Gallery Heritage and Horizon American Painting 1776-1976
(Exhibition catalog)		 80 Yes
1976 Baro, Gene 30 Years of American Printmaking Including 20th National Print Exhibition
(Exhibition catalog)		 160 Yes
1976 Castelman, Riva American Prints 1913-1963
(Exhibition catalog)		 160 No
1976 Jaques Cattell Press Who's Who in American Art, 1976 12th Edition 756 No
1976 San Francisco Mus Modern Art Painting & Sculpture in California The Modern Era 272 Yes
1976 Solomon R Guggenheim Museum Acquisition Priorities Aspects of Postwar Painting in America
(Exhibition catalog)		 120 Yes
1976 Stebbins, Theodore E American Master Drawings and Watercolors A History of Works on Paper 464 Yes
1975 Buckley, Charles E The Saint Louis Art Museum Handbook of Collections 377 Yes
1975 Editor, Smithsonian Smithsonian Archives of American Art: Checklist of the Collection 0 No
1975 Legg, Alicia American Art Since 1945 From the Collection of MOMA 84 Yes
1975 Mason, Lauris/Joan Ludman Print Reference Sources Bibliography 18th-20th Centuries 246 No
1975 Santa Fe Festival of the Arts Santa Fe Collects
(Exhibition catalog)		 64 Yes
1975 Selz, Peter Sam Francis 260 Yes
1974 Baur, John I H Whitney Museum of American Art Catalogue of the Collection 235 Yes
1974 Buffalo Fine Arts Academy American Art in Upstate New York Drawings, Watercolors and Small Sculptures 80 No
1974 Gidley, Mick Catalogue of American Paintings in British Public Collections 58 No
1974 Plagens, Peter Sunshine Muse Contemporary Art on the West Coast 200 Yes
1974 University of Illinois Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture, 1974
(Exhibition catalog)		 136 No
1973 Bennett, Ian A History of American Painting 240 Yes
1973 Carnegie Institute Catalogue of Painting Collection Museum of Art 196 Yes
1973 Johnson, Charlotte Buel Contemporary Art Exploring It's Roots and Development 96 Yes
1973 Kozloff, Max (intro) 25 Years of American Painting 1948-1973
(Exhibition catalog)		 72 Yes
1973 Onn, Gerald (Translator) Phaidon Dictionary of Twentieth Century Art 0 No
1973 Van Der Marck, Jan American Art Third Quarter Century
(Exhibition catalog)		 138 Yes
1972 Buck, Robert T (others) Sam Francis Paintings 1947-1972
(Exhibition catalog)		 147 Yes
1972 Hunter, Sam American Art of the 20th Century 487 Yes
1972 Sandler, Irving (intro) Contemporary Art 1942-72 479 Yes
1971 Bell, David Praeger Encyclopedia of Art (4 volumes) 2139 Yes
1971 Corcoran Gallery of Art Thirty-Second Biennial Exhibition Contemporary American Painting
(Exhibition catalog)		 79 No
1970 Blumenthal, Arthur Inaugural Exhibition 19th & 20th Cen Art from Collections of Alumni
(Exhibition catalog)		 144 No
1970 Fondation Maeght L'art Vivant aux Etats-Unis
(Exhibition catalog)		 164 Yes
1970 Guggenheim Museum Guggenheim Museum Collection Selections from/1900-1970 437 Yes
1970 Myers, Bernard S (editor) Encyclopedia of Painting (Painters of the World...etc) 511 Yes
1970 Rose, Barbara American Painting The Twentieth Century 116 No
1969 Coplans, John West Coast 1945-1969
(Exhibition catalog)		 60 No
1969 National Mus Mod Art, Tokyo Contemporary Art Dialogue between East and West
(Exhibition catalog)		 114 Yes
1969 Weston, Neville The Reach of Modern Art A Concise History 240 No
1968 Brooklyn Museum Sixteenth National Print Exhibition Two Decades of American Prints 1947-1968
(Exhibition catalog)		 63 No
1968 Robbins, Daniel/David W Scott An American Collection The Neuberger Collection 463 Yes
1968 Schmied, Wieland Sam Francis
(Exhibition catalog)		 60 Yes
1968 Sweeney, James Johnson Signals in the Sixties
(Exhibition catalog)		 1968 No
1968 Weller, Allen S The Joys and Sorrows of Recent American Art 185 No
1967 Hirsch, Richard Sources for Tomorrow: 50 American Paintings 1946-1966 James Michener Collection of Allentown Art Museum
(Exhibition catalog)		 48 No
1967 Rose, Barbara American Art Since 1900 A Critical History 320 Yes
1967 Sweeney, James Johnson Sam Francis
(Exhibition catalog)		 54 No
1967 Tokyo, Museum of Modern Art Two Decades of American Painting Gendai Amerika Kaiga Ten 81 Yes
1966 Gardner, Albert Ten Eyck History of Water Color in America 160 Yes
1966 Hunter, Sam (chapter on US) New Art Around the World 510 Yes
1966 Metropolitan Museum of Art 200 Years of Watercolor Painting Centennial of American Watercolor Society
(Exhibition catalog)		 64 No
1966 Pellegrini, Aldo New Tendencies in Art 320 Yes
1965 Buki, Zoltan Seven Americans
(Exhibition catalog)		 28 No
1965 Drawing Society Drawing Society National Exhibiti 1965
(Exhibition catalog)		 108 No
1965 Geldzahler, Henry American Painting in the Twentieth Century 236 No
1964 Indiana University Museum American Painting 1910 to 1960 50th Anniversary Exhibition College Unions
(Exhibition catalog)		 80 No
1964 Johnson, Una E 20th Century Drawings Part I:1900-1940/Part II 1940 to the Present 284 Yes
1964 Solomon R Guggenheim Museum American Drawings
(Exhibition catalog)		 48 No
1964 Ting, Walasse, Author and Sam Francis, Editor One Cent Life 172 Yes
1963 Brandeis University New Directions in American Painting: A Loan Exhibition
(Exhibition catalog)		 48 No
1963 Fogg Art Museum, Harvard 20th Century Master Drawings
(Exhibition catalog)		 104 No
1962 Hunter, Sam American Art Since 1950 A Loan Exhibition
(Exhibition catalog)		 83 Yes
1962 Weller, Allen S/Lee Nordness Art U S A Now (2 volumes) 474 Yes
1961 Solomon R Guggenheim Museum American Abstract Expressionists and Imagists
(Exhibition catalog)		 1961 No
1960 Read, Herbert Art Now An Introduction to the Theory of Modern Painting 326 Yes
1960 Walker Art Center 60 American Painters 1960 Abstract Expressionist Painting of the Fifties
(Exhibition catalog)		 78 Yes
1959 Musee National D'Art Moderne Jackson Pollock et la Nouvelle Peinture Americaine
(Exhibition catalog)		 64 No
1958 Museum of Modern Art La Nouvelle Peinture Americaine The New American Painting
(Exhibition catalog)		 88 Yes
1958 Museum of Modern Art Die neue amerikanische Malerei The New American Painting
(Exhibition catalog)		 50 No
1956 Miller, Dorothy C 12 Americans: The Museum of Modern Art, New York
(Exhibition catalog)		 96 Yes
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