Sam Francis: American Master

February 17 - March 14, 2009

Sam Francis is one of the preeminent abstract expressionists of the 20th Century and certainly one of California's greatest artists. His work is in every major museum in the world. Born in San Mateo, California in 1923, Francis attended University of California, Berkeley, before serving in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II - where he was injured in a plane crash. It was during the resulting several-year hospital stay that Francis began to paint. After time spent exhibiting in Paris in the 1950s, Francis returned to California during the 1960s and continued painting in Los Angeles. The final three decades of his career featured a move to Francis' style of large-scale bright works of abstract expressionism. Francis died in 1994.

Exhibition Photographs