Fairfield University Art Museum

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Sam Francis

"2023 marks the 100th Anniversary of one of the twentieth century’s most profound Abstract Expressionists, American artist Sam Francis (1923-1994.) Noted as one of the first post-World War II painters to develop an international reputation, Francis created thousands of paintings as well as works on paper, prints and monotypes, housed in major museum collections and institutions around the world. Regarded as one of the leading interpreters of color and light, his work holds references to New York abstract expressionism, color field painting, Chinese and Japanese art, French impressionism and his own Bay Area roots. Not only are Francis’s paintings valued historically for their aesthetic vision, but his inquisitive mind and spirit have solidified Francis’s legacy as a contemporary renaissance man. His interest in the creative process was expansive and synergistic –art, technology, psychology, science, medicine, and protecting the environment. He was an early investor in research to find creative solutions to our dependence on nonrenewable energy sources and cures for AIDs. In each of these realms, he explored the nature of creativity – what stimulates it, the importance of testing new ideas through experimentation as well as the roles of imagination, intuition and knowledge." - Courtesy of The Sam Francis Foundation #ACenturyofSam #SamFrancis100 #SamFrancisFoundation