White Line

1958/1959

Sam Francis

Artist, American, 1923 - 1994

Boldly colored abstract forms line most of the left and right thirds of this vertical painting to leave the central channel mostly white. The forms are angular and irregular with jagged edges. Those on the left are mostly royal blue and emerald green, and those on the right are largely fuchsia pink and red. Violet-purple, black, and yellow areas and streaks are on both sides. The center is spotted with thin drips of paint, fine spatters, or tiny dots of paint.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of the Collectors Committee

  • Dimensions

    overall: 275.91 × 191.45 × 4.45 cm (108 5/8 × 75 3/8 × 1 3/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1985.56.1

  • Copyright

    © 1997 The Estate of Sam Francis / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Acquired 1963 from the artist by the Pasadena Art Museum [later Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena]; sold December 1982 to (Galerie Beyeler, Basel);[1] purchased by the NGA Collectors Committee; gift 1985 to NGA.
[1] See correspondence with the Norton Simon Museum, in NGA curatorial files, and Debra Burchett-Lere, ed., Sam Francis: Catalogue Raisonné of Canvas and Panel Paintings, 1946-1994, Berkeley, 2011: no. SFF.642.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1962

  • Sam Francis, Esther Bear Gallery, Santa Barbara, 1962, no. 1, repro.

1967

  • Sam Francis: A Retrospective Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, 1967-1968, no. 29, repro.

1968

  • Sam Francis, Kunsthalle, Basel; Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1968, no. 51 (Basel catalogue), no. 26 (Karlsruke catalogue), no. 40 (Amsterdam catalogue).

1969

  • West Coast 1945-1969, Pasadena Art Museum; City Art Museum of Saint Louis; Art Gallery of Ontario,Toronto; Fort Worth Art Center, 1969-1970, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1972

  • Sam Francis: Paintings 1947-1972, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts; Oakland Museum, 1972-1973, no. 45, repro.

1974

  • Sam Francis: The Fifties, Robert Elkon Gallery, New York, 1974-1975, brochure.

1984

  • Sam Francis: Early Works, Robert Elkon Gallery, New York, 1984.

1993

  • Sam Francis, Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundersrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, 1993, unnumbered catalogue, repro. 151.

1996

  • Pintura Estadounidense: Expresionismo Abstracto [Abstract Expressionism and the American Experience], Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, 1996-1997, no. 19, repro.

1999

  • Sam Francis: Paintings 1947-1990, Museum of Contemporary Art / Geffen Contemporary, Los Angeles; Menil Collection, Houston; Malmö Konsthall, Sweden; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, 1999-2000, pl. 41 (not shown in Rome).

2009

  • Extended loan for use by President Barack Obama, The White House, Washington, D.C., 2009-2017 (on loan to Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute for July-October 2014).

Bibliography

1989

  • Strick, Jeremy. Twentieth Century Painting and Sculpture: Selections for the Tenth Anniversary of the East Building. Washington, D.C., 1989: 86, repro. 87.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 183, repro.

2011

  • Burchett-Lere, Debra, ed. Sam Francis: Catalogue Raisonné of Canvas and Panel Paintings, 1946-1994, Berkeley, 2011: no. SFF.280, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20195195

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