Sam Francis’s own paintings at Gagosian

Gagosian Gallery has with its usual acumen managed to secure some highly saleable pictures on show until 25 January 1997: a group of large-scale abstract paintings and works on paper by Sam Francis (shown here in his Santa Monica studio in 1977 with a picture like those being exhibited at present ), an artist particularly admired and collected by West Coasters. All were kept until the artist’s death in 1994 and many have never been shown in a commercial gallery before, a fact that will whet the appetite of the collectors. The illustrated catalogue has an introduction by Pierre Schneider, veteran art critic of L’Expres magazine and cataloguer of the paintings Sam Francis produced after settling in France in 1950. Francis was given the accolade of an exhibition at the Jeu de Paume in Paris last year and a large touring show of his life’s work is currently being prepared by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.