Sam Francis Untitled, from Eight by Eight to Celebrate the Temporary Contemporary 1984 Signed Lithograph Edition of 250

Artist: Sam Francis
Title: Untitled (from "Eight by Eight to Celebrate the Temporary Contemporary")
Medium: Color Lithograph on Rives BFK Paper
Year: 1984
Sheet Size: 42 1/8" x 28 7/8"
Edition: 142/250 + 30 AP
Publisher: Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Printer: The Litho Shop, Inc, Santa Monica
Inscription: Signed and numbered in pencil
Documentation: Modern Artifact Gallery Certificate of Authenticity

Sam Francis, Untitled, from "Eight by Eight to Celebrate the Temporary Contemporary", (1984) is a color lithograph that reflects the artist's mature exploration of chromatic intensity, gesture, and spatial openness within the medium of printmaking. Produced for a portfolio issued in conjunction with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the work is connected to the institution's early history and its Temporary Contemporary exhibition space, a site associated with experimental programming and large-scale contemporary practice. Francis's contribution translates the sensibilities of postwar abstraction into a graphic format while maintaining the immediacy and luminosity characteristic of his painting.

The composition is defined by fluid passages of saturated color dispersed across an active field of white, where pigment and open space operate in dynamic balance. Rather than organizing the image around a centralized motif, Francis allows gesture and chromatic relationships to guide the viewer's experience, producing a sense of movement and atmospheric depth. The unprinted areas function not as voids but as structural components that heighten the visual resonance of the color, reflecting the artist's sustained interest in light, energy, and spatial perception.

Printmaking occupied a significant role in Francis's career, offering a collaborative and technically refined context for extending painterly concerns through layered processes and tonal variation. This work is a color lithograph on Rives BFK paper, measuring 42 1/8 × 28 7/8 inches, from the edition of 250 plus 30 artist's proofs. It is signed and numbered in pencil, printed by The Litho Shop, Inc, Santa Monica, published by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and accompanied by a Modern Artifact Gallery Certificate of Authenticity.

About Sam Francis

Sam Francis (1923–1994) was an American painter and a leading figure in postwar abstract art, internationally recognized for his luminous color, expansive compositions, and innovative approach to abstraction. Associated with Abstract Expressionism, Color Field painting, and Lyrical Abstraction, Francis developed a distinctive visual language that bridged American and European modernist traditions.

Born in San Mateo, California, Francis initially studied medicine and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. His artistic career began after a serious illness during military service in World War II led him to paint while recuperating. He later studied art in California before moving to Paris in the early 1950s, where he became part of an international avant-garde community. His early work reflected the influence of Abstract Expressionism while introducing a lighter palette and greater spatial openness.

By the mid-1950s, Francis had established a signature style characterized by vibrant color, gestural brushwork, and areas of white space that activate the surrounding composition. His paintings often balance dynamic mark-making with a sense of atmospheric depth, creating a tension between structure and spontaneity. Throughout his career, he explored serial formats and large-scale canvases, as well as works on paper and printmaking.

Francis worked extensively in Japan, Europe, and the United States, and his engagement with Japanese aesthetics—particularly concepts of space and emptiness—had a lasting impact on his practice. In addition to painting, he was a prolific printmaker, producing lithographs, etchings, aquatints, and monotypes that extended his exploration of color and gesture into graphic media.

Sam Francis's work is held in major museum collections worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Tate, and the Centre Pompidou. His paintings remain influential in the history of twentieth-century abstraction, noted for their synthesis of energy, light, and color within a global modernist context.