Sam Francis - New Now New York Tuesday, September 24, 2019 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    André Emmerich Gallery, New York
    Acquired from the above by the present owner in June 1974

  • Exhibited

    New York, André Emmerich Gallery, Sam Francis, April 10 - 29, 1971
    New York, André Emmerich Gallery, Opening Show, Fall 1971
    Buffalo, Albright-Knox Art Gallery; Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery of Art; New York, Whitney Museum of American Art; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts; Oakland Museum, Sam Francis: Paintings 1947-1972, September 11, 1972 - August 5, 1973, no. 70, p. 99 (illustrated)
    Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art; Houston, Menil Collection; Malmö Konsthall; Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia; Rome, Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Sam Francis: Paintings 1947-1990, March 7, 1999 - January 28, 2001, no. 60, p. 113 (illustrated)

  • Literature

    Carter Ratcliff, "Sam Francis: Universal Painter," ARTnews 71, December 1971, no. 8, p. 56 (illustrated)
    Stephen Farthing, ed., 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die, New York, 2007, pp. 949, 960 (illustrated, p. 844)
    Debra Burchett-Lere, ed., Sam Francis: Catalogue Raisonné of Canvas and Panel Paintings 1946-1994, Berkeley, 2011, no. SFF.541, DVD I, pp. 102, 336, 344 (illustrated, p. 103)

  • Catalogue Essay

    The Miles and Shirley Fiterman Collection reads like a cross-continental survey of the 20th century’s most influential artists. Born out of the seminal decade of the 1960s, the collection is not only a tribute to the dawning of a revolutionary cultural era but a witness to its making. To look at how Miles and Shirley Fiterman collected is to understand the importance of the collector at this crucial point in post-war history; when contemporary art solidified its institutional recognition and found relevance with a wider public. The selection of artworks they assembled dance between abstraction and figuration and feature some of the most esteemed all-American artists, including Sam Francis, Frank Stella, Alexander Calder and John Chamberlain.

    Sam Francis’s EVIII, 1971, represents the artist’s love of color, light and travel. Francis renders spontaneous clouds of exquisite color to the corners of the work, reminiscent of a gentle Parisian atmosphere. In contrast, the vast negative space that spans across the large-scale canvas, central to Francis’ style after the mid-1960s, embraces the sharp energy of New York Minimalism. The bursts of pigment that frame the work evokes an edgeless nature that pulls the dynamic abstraction off the canvas.

    Drawing from the history of the Nazi takeover during World War II, Frank Stella’s Narwola II, 1971 is a geometric interpretation of Polish synagogues and their distinct architecture. Created with wood, brightly colored felt and canvas, this work is part of the Polish Village series prominent to Stella’s practice from 1971-1973. In this series, he appropriated graphic elements such as diagonally slanted roofs and wooden beams typical of Polish villages. Coupling these dynamic designs with Stella’s flattened perspective, this work speaks to the resulting demolition in post-war Poland.

    This selection from the Fiterman Collection is a wonderful window into what made their collecting so seminal even in its own time – a great blend of paintings, works on paper, and sculpture of the two predominant movements from mid-century America, Pop and Abstract Expressionism.

Property From The Miles And Shirley Fiterman Collection

Ο55

E VIII

acrylic on canvas
79 x 138 in. (200.7 x 350.5 cm.)
Painted in 1971.

This work is identified with the interim identification number of SFF.541; in consideration for the forthcoming addendum to Sam Francis: Catalogue Raisonné of Canvas and Panel Paintings. This information is subject to change as scholarship continues by the Sam Francis Foundation.

Estimate
$350,000 - 450,000 

Sold for $350,000

Contact Specialist
Sam Mansour
Associate Specialist, Head of New Now Sale
New York
+1 212 940 1219

New Now

New York Auction 24 September 2019