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The 1970s were a pivotal time in Sam Francis’ career, and arguably the decade where he reached the peak of his abilities as an artist. By the time the decade came about, Francis had already established himself as an imposing figure in the art world. Having already shown at MoMA and helped engineer the Tachisme movement in Europe, he worked extensively with artists all over the world, from Joan Mitchell to Walasse Ting.
Untitled could be considered to be a transitional piece between the white expanses that defined his late-60s Edge series towards the Greenbergian formalism present in his works from the 80s and 90s, where he aligned his practice more with the conventional abstract expressionism of Jackson Pollock and Mark Tobey. However, considering this era in Francis’ career to be ‘transitional’ is somewhat disparaging to an artist that was in constant evolution, experimenting with new ideas and techniques in a revolution of painting, redefining the parameters of the medium. Moreover, transition implies stylistic interruption, when Francis’ oeuvre could only ever be considered as a layered concentration of the following key elements: sumptuous control of colour, a masterful employment of thinned-out paint and most importantly, a profound preoccupation with negative space.
Left: Installation view of the present lot at
Los Angeles, Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Sam Francis, June 1975
© 2022 Sam Francis Foundation, California / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York
Right: Left: Installation view of the present lot at
Paris, Galerie Jean Fournier, Sam Francis, de 1947 à 1988, sur papier, October - November 1988
© 2022 Sam Francis Foundation, California / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New YorkThe Country of Oblivion
Each of these concerns are brilliantly exhibited in the present lot, where Francis employs ballads of teal to form intersecting bands that divide the composition into a poetic balance of pigment and canvas. The artist flexes his technical abilities here, using a range of techniques from a roller to create bands, then adding pools, drips and splatters of paint — producing an accomplished variation in the materiality of paint. Indeed, what underlies this concerto of forms and hues is a dedicated, almost architectural approach to compositional space. Francis used water and tinted gesso to demarcate the nexus of beams, over which he would apply paint on already dampened areas, working wet-on-wet and revisiting the surface before it had been given the opportunity to dry and develop chromatic agency.
“Painting is about the beauty of space and the power of containment.”
— Sam FrancisOne Foot in the West, the Other in the East, Straddling the World in Tradition
Francis painting in a studio borrowed from Teshigahara Sōfū in Tokyo, 1957
© 2022 Sam Francis Foundation, California / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York
Photo: François-René Roland, ParisFrancis had always been fascinated with the concept of white space, though upon his first visit to Japan in 1957 upon commission from Teshigahara Sōfū, who was the master of the Sōgetsu School of ikebana (Japanese flower arranging), this preoccupation took on new bearings and a heightened sense of urgency. This can be seen in his Japan Line series of the late decade where long lines of dripped paint and nucleated forms that climb across the canvas create new fields of perspective for the swells of uninhabited white oceans that envelop them. The works here, which form the theoretical and functional foundations of Untitled, and display striking semblances to two of the finest eras of Japanese art: the splashed ink Haboku scrolls of the Muromachi period and the monochromatic divergences of the Azuchi-Momoyama period Kano School. Francis demonstrated an exceptionally intuitive grasp of the concept of ‘ma’ — the dynamic interchange between form and non-form, object and void, mass and space. He would manifest ma through existential white holes that allow the accompanying forms to breath, these mini universes assume primacy within the composition, offering a footpath through the composition and a blueprint for reaching a state of zen — rendering infinity, tangible. His finely attuned sensibilities paved the way for a close relation to some of the country’s leading post-war figures: for poet Takahiko Okada, the artist’s lyrical white was ‘straining, tense, a magnetic field’; for writer/artist Shūzō Takiguchi, it was ‘the space of effusion, filled with amorous tenderness’; while for critic Yoshiaki Tōno, one of his closest devotees in Japan, Francis had summoned ‘a white world that spells a rumbling, sensual, and fatal horror.’ i.
Sesshū Tōyō, Hanging Scroll, 15th Century
Property of the British Museum, LondonThis would bring the art historian Peter Selz to posit that ‘Japan, with a tradition that considers art, above all, as meditative experience, almost immediately responded with sympathy to Francis’s work.’ ii. Such a position was shared by many critics in Japan, who aligned the quality of absence in his painting with further Asian theoretical concepts, such as mu (nothingness) in Zen Buddhism, and yohaku (unpainted space) in ink painting. Devotion to the aesthetic sensibilities of Buddhism was underpinned by a long-standing interest in the religion — during his time at UC Berkley before the Second World War, he studied Zen texts at length. His attachment to Japan was made consecrate by two marriages and divorces with Japanese artists Teruko Yokoi and Mako Idemitsu, fathering two sons by the latter — and learning to speak and write basic Japanese, which reinforced his understanding and connection to ma.
A Psychological Temperance
Through the 1970s, Francis’ exploration of the interior, the spiritual, was tempered by a furthering commitment to science, and thus a balance between intuition and method. A student of psychology at college, the artist took this one step further when he began Jungian analysis in ’71 — a detailed, analytical approach to talk therapy that seeks to bring balance and union between the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind. Indeed this turn to psychology has been credited for the incredible creative surge and flowering in innovation that Francis enjoyed during the decade; the exploration of the psyche uncovering a well of boundless productivity and vision.
i Yoshiaki Tōno, quoted in Richard Speer, Points of Entry: Sam Francis — The 70s, ext. cat., Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art, September 2019, online
ii Peter Selz, quoted in Debra Burchett-Lere, ‘Sam Francis: A Biographical Timeline’, in Sam Francis: Catalogue Raisonné of Canvas and Panel Paintings 1946–1994, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 2011, p.179Provenance
Estate of the artist, California
Private Collection, Belgium
Guy Pieters Gallery, Saint-Paul-de-Vence
Private Collection, Belgium
Christie's, Hong Kong, 11 July 2020, lot 271
Acquired at the above sale by the present ownerExhibited
Los Angeles, Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Sam Francis, June 1975
Paris, Galerie Jean Fournier, Sam Francis, de 1947 à 1988, sur papier, October - November 1988Literature
D. Burchett-Lere, ed., Sam Francis: Online Catalogue Raisonné Project, plate SF74-92, online (illustrated)
Property of an Important Asian Collector
31
Untitled
inscribed by studio assistant '1974 Tokyo 36 1/2’’ x 72’’ SFT74 92' on the reverse; further stamped with the Sam Francis Estate logo and facsimile signature stamp on the reverse
acrylic and gouache on paper
92.7 x 182.9 cm. (36 1/2 x 72 in.)
Executed in 1974.
Estimate
HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
€184,000-306,000
$192,000-321,000
Charlotte Raybaud
Specialist, Head of Evening Sale
+852 2318 2026
CharlotteRaybaud@phillips.com
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale
Hong Kong Auction 22 June 2022
1
Julie Curtiss
Funky Boots
Estimate HK$600,000 - 800,000
Sold for HK$1,071,000
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2
Jamian Juliano-Villani
Hand's Job
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$819,000
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3
Lucy Bull
8:50
Estimate HK$1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for HK$11,382,000
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4
Scott Kahn
Soundview
Estimate HK$900,000 - 1,400,000
Sold for HK$4,032,000
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5
Hernan Bas
Who Told Them We Were Coming?
Estimate HK$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for HK$3,528,000
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6
Shara Hughes
Pleasure House
Estimate HK$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Sold for HK$6,542,000
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7
Loie Hollowell
Linked Lingam in Red and Blue
Estimate HK$1,800,000 - 2,800,000
Sold for HK$3,024,000
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8
Anna Weyant
Chest
Estimate HK$500,000 - 700,000
Sold for HK$4,158,000
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9
George Condo
Transparent Female Forms
Estimate HK$25,000,000 - 35,000,000
Sold for HK$36,550,000
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10
This lot is no longer available.
11
Matthew Wong
Pink Wave
Estimate HK$16,000,000 - 26,000,000
Sold for HK$22,635,000
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12
David Hockney
Painted Landscape (Or Red and Blue Landscape)
Estimate HK$16,000,000 - 24,000,000
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13
Ed Ruscha
Spied Upon Scene: Window
Estimate HK$3,500,000 - 5,500,000
Sold for HK$3,150,000
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14
Huang Yuxing
Pearl Shore
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for HK$3,024,000
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15
This lot is no longer available.
16
Nicolas Party
Two Portraits
Estimate HK$6,000,000 - 8,000,000
Sold for HK$6,542,000
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17
George Condo
The Strangers
Estimate HK$5,000,000 - 6,500,000
Sold for HK$5,670,000
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18
Ernie Barnes
Life After Sundown
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for HK$6,048,000
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19
Javier Calleja
1971
Estimate HK$3,500,000 - 5,500,000
Sold for HK$4,032,000
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20
Yoshitomo Nara
Untitled
Estimate HK$6,000,000 - 8,000,000
Sold for HK$7,510,000
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21
This lot is no longer available.
22
Adrian Ghenie
Pie Fight Study 4
Estimate HK$3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for HK$4,032,000
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23
Michaël Borremans
Stars
Estimate HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for HK$2,772,000
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24
Li Chen
Angelic Smile
Estimate HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for HK$4,284,000
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25
Zhang Xiaogang
Bloodline Series - Big Family
Estimate HK$7,500,000 - 10,000,000
Sold for HK$8,115,000
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26
Zhang Enli
Things
Estimate HK$2,200,000 - 4,200,000
Sold for HK$2,520,000
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27
This lot is no longer available.
28
Lee Ufan
From Line No. 790372
Estimate HK$9,000,000 - 14,000,000
Sold for HK$11,140,000
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29
Pierre Soulages
Peinture 102 x 130 cm, 11 mars 2016
Estimate HK$7,500,000 - 10,000,000
Sold for HK$8,115,000
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30
Ouattara Watts
Intercessor
Estimate HK$800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for HK$1,134,000
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31
Sam Francis
Untitled
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
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32
KAWS
UNTITLED
Estimate HK$3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for HK$3,276,000
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33
Kohei Nawa
PixCell-Deer #21
Estimate HK$2,800,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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34
This lot is no longer available.
35
Anna Park
I to I
Estimate HK$300,000 - 500,000
Sold for HK$2,268,000
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36
Trey Abdella
Some Things Aren't Worth Waiting For
Estimate HK$600,000 - 900,000
Sold for HK$2,646,000
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37
Szabolcs Bozó
One Bird, A Cat and A Man
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$882,000
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38
Katherine Bernhardt
Laundry Day
Estimate HK$800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for HK$2,142,000
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39
Issy Wood
Dog With Pendants (Not as Close)
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for HK$1,386,000
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40
Robert Nava
Shark Wing Pegasus
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for HK$3,780,000
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41
Ayako Rokkaku
Untitled
Estimate HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for HK$8,115,000
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42
Allison Zuckerman
Bullseye
Estimate HK$550,000 - 750,000
Sold for HK$1,071,000
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43
Serge Attukwei Clottey
Valentine's Day
Estimate HK$250,000 - 450,000
Sold for HK$693,000
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44
Genieve Figgis
Pink Ballroom
Estimate HK$1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for HK$2,016,000
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45
Emmanuel Taku
Brothers in Red
Estimate HK$300,000 - 500,000
Sold for HK$1,512,000
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46
Aboudia
Take Me II
Estimate HK$500,000 - 700,000
Sold for HK$2,520,000
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47
José Parlá
Writers' Bench: Grand Concourse & 149th Street, The Bronx
Estimate HK$800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for HK$1,764,000
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48
Edgar Plans
Night Creatures
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for HK$3,024,000
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49
Rafa Macarrón
Sin título (Cosmos)
Estimate HK$700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for HK$1,386,000
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