The 1950s was a decisive, pivotal decade for Francis's practice. The first significant moment was in 1950, when the artist moved to Paris. There, Francis immersed himself in the city's fervent artistic scene, where he would observe works by Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse and socialised with artists such as Joan Mitchell and Jean Paul Riopelle among others. Influenced by the new cultural hub of the French capital, Francis started to develop a new sensibility to light and colour in his work, while unifying a various range of influences - from Impressionism to Surrealism - and painting techniques. The artist's visit to Japan in 1957 proved to be a further seminal point in his artistic production, by exposing him to a new conception of the pictorial surface, orchestrated by the functional presence of the colour white. Francis's time in Japan coupled with his experiences in Paris were formative in the development of his visual language and style.

'Untitled', is a gouache and watercolour on paper created in the same year when Francis travelled to Japan. For the details of its style and composition, this work can be viewed as a transitional piece between the artist's Parisian production, which reached its acme in paintings such as 'Deep Orange and Black' (1953-55), today at the Kunstmuseum in Basel, Switzerland, and the artist's new artistic chapter which originated from his visit to Japan. In fact, what we see in 'Untitled' can be considered the mirror of the painting mentioned above, reflecting the attention given to the balance between the white and coloured details in the painting 'Summer #1' (1957), which today holds the auction record for the artist and is part of The Broad Collection (Los Angeles).

In its composition, 'Untitled' is dominated by dark, interlinking structures reminiscent of cells and molecules, overlaying a colourful background with areas of negative space permeating through. Most likely influenced by his interest in biology, which dates back to the 1940s, Francis had started experimenting with these structural elements upon his move to Paris. In the early 1950s, when they started appearing in clear or transparent tonalities, these specific, unusual shapes dominated the series of Francis's work today known as 'Cell Paintings'.

Biography & Collections 

Samuel Lewis Francis was born in 1923, in San Mateo, California. He began painting in 1944 during a period of convalescence following an accident the artist had while enrolled in The U.S. Army Air Corps. Francis decided to progress in this new passion and soon abandoned his intended medical studies to follow his artistic ambitions, earning a BA in 1949 and an MA in 1950 at the University of California, Berkeley. Throughout the 1950s, Francis travelled consistently after his move to Paris in 1950. Francis returned to California in 1962 and resumed painting with combinations of bright tonalities. Over the next decades, Francis's style in painting and print production constantly changed and evolved, exploring different combinations of the relationship between shape and colour. Throughout his artistic career, Francis realised several public commissions, held many international exhibitions, and had studios in cities such as Bern, Paris, Los Angeles, and Tokyo. During the final decades of career, Francis held and supported several projects in publishing and nonprofit organisations. After opening his own lithography studio, in 1975 Francis funded an alternative energy company. In 1980 he contributed to the organisation of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Los Angeles. Ten years later, he founded the Sam Francis Art Museum in 1990 to perpetuate his artistic legacy and support charitable donations.

Today his works are held in many major collections around the world, including: Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Tate, London; and the Whitney Museum, New York.