Filters
1985
Deposited (Collection of Asahi Group Japan, Ltd.)
Sam Francis is a major representative of postwar American abstract painting who started painting in the 1950s and continued working vigorously for over 40 years. The works spotlighted here are monumental paintings executed in the 1980s during the artist's later years. They were brought to Japan for a traveling solo exhibition in 1988. The works of this period are characterized by large forms reminiscent of thick beams or posts arranged boldly on a large white ground. From the 1970s on, Francis adopted the technique of painting directly with a wet roller and water-soluble acrylic paint. Using acrylics with lots of water, Francis laid down simple, large-scale forms in free compositions, allowing accidental splashing and staining to add a lively, decorative effect to his paintings. Francis was interested in the psychological theories of Carl Gustav Jung，and it has been reported that he likened the two contrasting elements of these paintings, the solid, beam-like structures and the exuberantly flowing paint, to the conscious and unconscious mind. The extravagant banquet of color spreading over the surface of the canvas certainly seems to have been released from the artist's unconscious. Francis is often categorized as belonging to the second generation of Abstract Expressionism, but these paintings are unusual in comparison to other American paintings. They recall the aesthetics and techniques of Eastern painting, especially traditional Chinese or Japanese ink painting, in their bold use of vacant white space. Because of this difference, Francis enjoys a higher reputation in Europe and Japan than in his native America.
YOSHIDA Katsuro
1985
IKEDA Ryoji
1985
Georges ROUSSE
1985
KAWARA On
1985
KWAK Duck Jun
1985
BABA Kashio
1985
YOSHIDA Katsuro
1985
HAMADA Chimei
1985
KAWASHIMA Junji
1985
TERADA Mayumi
1985
