Untitled (SFP94-131, SFF.1801) 1994

Sam Francis made this untitled work on paper sometime before his death in 1994, using acrylic paint. Francis’s art emerged in the wake of Abstract Expressionism in the United States, a movement known for its emphasis on spontaneous gesture. During the Cold War, abstraction became a powerful symbol of American freedom of expression, exhibited in museums at home and exported around the world, sometimes with clandestine support from the CIA. Francis spent much of his career abroad, especially in Paris and Japan, and this may have given him a critical distance from the political rhetoric surrounding abstract art. He often left areas of bare canvas in his paintings, giving a decentralised, all-over quality. To understand this work better, art historians might look at exhibition reviews and collectors' writings, which may reveal more about the artist’s intentions. His work helps us to consider the shifting institutional contexts that give abstract art its meaning.