Artist: Sam Francis American (1923-1994)
Title: Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games (signed)
Plate: LA84
Original offset lithograph, hand signed in pen by the artist in 1982
From the limited edition of 750 hand signed lithographs
(only approx. 200 remain after the event)
Backed on linen
Printed By Knapp Communications Corp, Los Angeles 1982
Shipped rolled.
Certificate of Authenticity.
Size: 24 in x 36 in 61 cm x 91.4 cm
Price: $895.00 Hand Signed
"Color is born of the interpenetration of light and dark." Sam Francis
"Sixteen artists created poster designs in an official series for the XXIIIrd Olympiad in Los Angeles in 1984. The selection includes internationally known American artists as well as several young “emerging” artists with a special emphasis on those who work in Los Angeles. Ranging from photo realism to pure abstract styles, each design represents a personal approach to the idea of sport and Olympic Games. Participating artists were Carlos Almaraz, John Baldessari, Jennifer Bartlett, Lynda Benglis, Billy Al Bengston, Jonathan Borofsky, Richard Diebenkorn, Sam Francis, April Greiman, Jayme Odgers, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, Martin Puryear, Robert Rauschenberg, Raymond Saunders, and Garry Winogrand. A signed limited edition of 750 was printed." (Art and Sport: Images of the Olympic Games)
Sam Francis
Sam Francis occupies a prominent position in post-war American painting. Although associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement and Clement Greenberg's Post-Painterly Abstraction, unlike many American painters of he time he had direct and prolonged exposure to French painting and to Japanese art which had an individual impact on his work. (samfrancis.com)
"Francis’ most iconic works are characterized by saturated splashes of color that populate the edges of the canvas in order to emphasize the luminous white void in the center. This contrast between the vibrancy of Francis’ color palette and the austere white picture plane demonstrate the artist’s concern with relationships of space, color, and light, as opposed to the psychologically expressive tendencies of contemporaries such as Jackson Pollock." (artsy.net)
"During the Second World War Sam Francis served as a pilot with the American armed forces. He took up painting while recovering from a flying accident in 1944. From 1950-7 he lived in Paris, where he saw first-hand the paintings of Monet, Matisse, Cézanne and Bonnard. In September 1956 he visited an exhibition of Monet's 'Water Lilies', paintings which had aroused his interest for some time and which had an impact on his work. For Francis each colour has a symbolic value: white corresponds to the infinite, blue to the cosmos and water, and yellow to the sun. His experience as a pilot has a bearing on his paintings..." (tate.org)