Sam Francis occupied a prominent position in post-war American painting. He was born in San Mateo, California in 1923. Although associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement and Clement Greenberg's Post-Painterly Abstraction, unlike many American painters of he time he had direct and prolonged exposure to French painting and to Japanese art which had an individual impact on his work. Francis moved to Paris in 1950 where he met Jean-Paul Riopelle who was to remain an important influence, and study of Monet's Waterlilies had a profound impact on his work. From a very muted palette of greys and whites he returned to the qualities of light and colour producing such works as Big Red 1953. During his period in Europe he executed a number of monumental mural paintings. Sam Francis died in November of 1994, he was 71.
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