Untitled (Edge) 1964

Sam Francis made this untitled painting with acrylic on canvas. Francis was an American artist associated with abstract expressionism. That artistic tendency was shaped by the institutions of the American art world in the post-war period. Here we see an emphasis on the expressive qualities of color. Note the bold use of red, blue, and green alongside a blank white canvas. This interest in color was not unique to American art. Francis spent much of his career in France, where he was influenced by the legacies of impressionism and surrealism. His approach to abstraction, like that of many artists of his generation, sought to create artworks that spoke to the universal dimensions of experience. To better understand the universalizing impulse in post-war art, we need to consider how institutions like museums, galleries, and schools shape the production and reception of art. Only by combining formal analysis with attention to the socio-political, economic, and cultural forces can we truly understand art.