Sam Francis Foundation

06/14/2024

It is with great sadness the Sam Francis Foundation posts this message with the news of the death of our dear friend, collaborator and mentor Sidney Felsen. Not only did Sam Francis work with Sidney and Gemini GEL over the decades, but many of Sam’s assistants worked for Gemini first and then with the artist in his studio, including master printers George Page and Jacob Samuel as well as Nancy Mozur and Debra Burchett-Lere. Our connections with the expanded Gemini GEL family and team is multilayered and full of cherished memories. Sidney’s incredible zest for life and his commitment to the artist’s spirit will be greatly missed. His support and contributions to the world of art and printmaking will never be forgotten. We send our deepest sympathies to Joni and Suzanne and all his family and friends. Thank you Sidney for all you have shared with us!

Image of Sam Francis working in the Gemini GEL studio on the print Meteorite. Photo by Sidney B. Felsen.

03/24/2021

Thank you to everyone who joined us in the zoom discussion on “The Space of Effusion: Sam Francis in Japan” last week with Richard Speer and Jennifer Sudul Edwards. We are happy to announce that the entire conversation is now available to view on samfrancisfoundation.org, at the link below, and on our YouTube channel. We had the pleasure of seeing and hearing from viewers from all over the world and look forward to the next zoom conference in June with Richard Speer, sponsored by LACMA Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Richard Speer, author of The Space of Effusion: Sam Francis in Japan (2020, Verlag, Scheidegger & Spiess AG, Zurich) and curator Jennifer Sudul Edwards, PhD, explore the publication of the latest book on the oeuvre of Sam Francis.

02/19/2021

We are thrilled to announce the opening of the online exhibition SAM FRANCIS › SPACE & CONTAINMENT, at Galerie Ludorff.

More information reposted from Galerie Ludorff:

"Painting is about the beauty of space and the power of containment".

📌On view from FEBRUARY 19 – APRIL 24, 2021📌Galerie Ludorff, Artsy and artnet

From the above quote by the American artist Sam Francis, we drew inspiration for the title of our current online exhibition. The show illustrates the artist's great interest in the pictorial space and the overcoming of physical and intellectual limitations and the aim to expand the possibilities of painting in his time.

Throughout his life, Francis was interested in creating tension and in releasing or concentrating mental energy. Against the background of the current crisis, his works seem to be more relevant than ever and they show how being contained in a space may release extremely positive energies. Despite the exhibitions clear focus on the early works up to 1964, we are happy to provide an overview of the artists development over the course of 40 years.

So make sure to check out our website ››› www.ludorff.com ‹‹‹ for a stunning firework of colors!

On view:
Sam Francis, Composition in Red, Blue and Yellow, ca. 1960, Gouache on paper, 13,5x14cm
© , California / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2021

02/02/2021

*25% off Lapis Press books in the Sam Francis Foundation Bookstore*

As part of their goal in producing noteworthy and timely texts in visually stunning formats, Sam Francis’s Lapis Press released “Immeasurable Distances: The Collected Essays” by Harry Mathews, 1991. Lapis Press was founded by Francis in 1984 and in collaboration with significant contemporary artists published many books; many of which will be shared here in the coming weeks.

This collection of essays by Harry Mathews is now available to purchase at shop.samfrancisfoundation.org, including special limited edition numbered and signed copies, as seen here.

01/04/2021

Happy New Year! Read at the link below for more on Tiana Williams, the selected Inaugural Sam Francis Media Fellow. Great start to 2021!

After a competitive process, Tiana Williams, a USC graduate student in Cinema and Media Studies who specializes in archives, oral histories, and documentary filmmaking, was selected as the Inaugural Sam Francis Media Fellow.

12/25/2020

Warm Winter Greetings
from the Sam Francis Foundation!

We are looking forward to a world of dreams filled with color and light in the coming year.

“Sam Francis painted images with words as well as pigments. His writings, which took the form of aphorisms, poetry, dream memories, and prose, have been instrumental in the way his artistic outpourings have been viewed over the years. Evoking moods and emotional musings, they form the creative thread between his paintings and his thoughts about the soul, spirit, and art. It was Sam’s fate to live an artist’s life in all its complexities, mediating between divine inspiration and human existence. The straddling of these two realms often produced the friction that prompted Sam to create.”
— Nancy Mozur, from Cobalt Blue.

Sam Francis, all dreams are in us prophetic!, gouache on paper, 1961, 74.93 x 105.41 cm (29 1/2 x 41 1/2 in.), Collection Kiki Kogelnik Foundation.

12/21/2020

In October 2020, 18th Street Arts Center and the Sam Francis Foundation were thrilled to announce Call to Dream: The Sam Francis Fellowship, an ongoing artist residency exchange between Los Angeles and three other cities foundational to the artist Sam Francis’s development: Tokyo, Mexico City, and Paris.

An update and more information on the artist residency exchange can be found at the link to NEWS here and
18thstreet.org/samfrancisfellowship.

In October 2020, 18th Street Art Center and the Sam Francis Foundation were thrilled to announce Call to Dream: The Sam Francis Fellowship. an ongoing artist residency exchange between Los Angeles and three other cities foundational to the artist Sam Francis’s development: Tokyo, Mexico City, and ...

11/27/2020

The Holiday Sale at the Sam Francis Foundation starts today!! 25% off all books (including new releases) lasts until December 15th.

All books available at the online bookstore:
https://shop.samfrancisfoundation.org/collections/books

11/25/2020

Sam Francis’s extensive archive has given way to Archive Connection, a new initiative by the foundation to explore the lives and work of historical figures that have intersected paths with Sam throughout his history.

The premier installment is an essay on artist Shirley Jaffe by Leila Elliott, who is an archives researcher with the Sam Francis Foundation.

In our premier Archive Connection essay, Leila Elliot, Archives Researcher, has investigated the artist Shirley Jaffe. We hope you will enjoy this first installment and look forward to many more.

11/23/2020

Congratulations to Art Division on the opening of the Sam Francis Print Studio. We could not be more delighted to be a part of Art Division’s commitment to the community and this amazing space to help nurture creativity in students and artists.

Follow the link below to watch Dan McCleary give more information about Art Division and the Sam Francis Print Studio:

https://youtu.be/BEMJQTvBFSM

Thank you to the Sam Francis Foundation for their support in opening our new print studio. Used for student workshops and artist projects, the studio is directed by Art Division fellow Javier Carrillo.
Thank you for believing in us!

11/19/2020

The Sam Francis Foundation’s website has been recently updated with some exciting new features. Begin your visit by reading the latest Director’s Letter from Debra Burchett-Lere, which includes news on projects, the expansion of outreach programs, collaborations and the ongoing additions to the Online Catalogue Raisonné Project. Wishing a safe and healthy fall.

Photo: Debra Burchett-Lere channeling “Superwoman” by Kiki Kogelnik at The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC.

*Please keep your eye peeled for an Archive Connection essay about Kiki Kogelnik and her work in coming weeks! Thank you so much to the Kiki Kogelnik Foundation for our recent archival exchanges!

One of the twentieth century's most profound Abstract Expressionists, American artist Sam Francis (1923-1994) is 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...