Untitled. 1957.
Watercolor.
Signed, and inscribed “#14 Untitled Watercolor 20x24 Centimeters” and “Top”/"Oben” on the reverse, presumably by a hand other than that of the artist. On wove paper. 24 x 19.7 cm (9.4 x 7.7 in), the full sheet.

• In 1957, Francis embarked on a trip around the world, in the course of which he created this work in Paris.
• It was shown at exhibitions in Seattle and Bern in the same year.
• In 1959 and 1964, Francis took part in documenta II and III in Kassel.
• Sam Francis was more committed to a lyrically oriented form of Abstract Expressionism than to the spontaneous impulse of Action Painting.
• Works by the artist can be found in internationally renowned museums, including the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Tate Gallery, London.

The work is registered at the Sam Francis Foundation, Glendale/California, under the number “SFF5.217;SF57-034” and is listed in the online catalogue raisonné.

PROVENANCE: Galerie Kornfeld und Klipstein, Bern (1957).
Private collection (from the above)
Private collection, Southern Germany.

EXHIBITION: Sam Francis, Zoe Dusanne Gallery, Seattle, March 14-April 7, 1957, cat. no. 14.
Sam Francis: Ausstellung, Galerie Kornfeld und Klipstein, Bern, September 25-November 5, 1957, cat. no. 20.

LITERATURE: Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, June 24, 1981, lot 233 (illu.).

In good condition. Slightly discolored, mainly at the bottom of the sheet.