Summer No. 2

Label TextFrancis took up art as therapy during a long hospital stay during wartime service as a fighter pilot. His distinctive pictorial style began from what he saw from his bed – the play of light on the ceiling or across the Pacific sky. The work of the earlier generation of Abstract Expressionists, such as Pollock and Rothko, along with a stay in Paris studying Monet and Matisse, helped define his ideas of color and space. His early works, like Summer No. 2, combine the large scale and painterly traits of Abstract Expressionism with bright, jewel tones reminiscent of not only Matisse and Monet, but the landscape of Francis’ native California. Summer No. 2’s brilliant colors are offset by the large expanses of white. Francis’ application of color in “controlled accidents” allows dripping paint and uneven layers of color to infiltrate the clear space in a sensual, organic manner.
Exhibition History"The Abstract Tradition in American Art," Des Moines Art Center, Dec. 7, 1991 - Feb. 23, 1992

"Sam Francis: Paintings, 1947-1990", The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, March 7 - July 25, 1999; The Menil Collection, Houston, Sept. 9, 1999 - Jan. 2, 2000; Malmo Kunsthall, Malmo, Sweden, Jan. 29 - May 1, 2000; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sophia, Madrid, Spain, June 6 - Aug. 28, 2000; Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, Italy, Oct. 30, 2000 - Jan.28, 2001
Published ReferencesDMAC Annual Report, July 1, 1984 - June 30, 1985

AN UNCOMMON VISION: THE DES MOINES ART CENTER, Des Moines Art Center, 1998, ref. p.112, color ill. p.113

DES MOINES ART CENTER; SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER, Des Moines Art Center, 1985, ref. p.70, color ill. pl.VIII, p.104

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2016, ill. cat. no. 88, pg. 226-227

EXPRESSIONISMO ABSTRACTO, Royal Academy of Arts, Londres, 2016, ill. cat. no 68, pg. 204-205 (Spanish language)

DimensionsFrame: 74 × 98 × 2 3/8 in. (188 × 248.9 × 6 cm)
Canvas (/image): 72 1/8 × 96 in. (183.2 × 243.8 cm)

Accession Number 1984.25

Classificationspainting

CopyrightARS

InscriptionsBlue Sam Francis 57 (verso u,c stretcher bar)

ProvenanceArtist; (Martha Jackson Gallery, New York). Lucille McGinnis, New York. (Andre Emmerich Gallery Inc., New York); Richard and Jeanne Levitt, Des Moines [purchased from the previous, 1979]; Des Moines Art Center [gift of the previous, 1984]

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