Sam Francis

Andre Emmerich Gallery, Inc., New York
Mr. and Mrs. John D. Murchison, Dallas (acquired from the above in December 1969)
Sotheby's, New York, November 8, 1989, Lot 33
Private Collection, Japan
Sotheby's, New York, May 3, 1993, Lot 38
Acquired by the present owner from the above

Bern, Galerie Kornfeld un Klipstein, Sam Francis, September - October 1966, cat. no. 11, illustrated in color
New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, Sam Francis, 1967, cat. no. 7, illustrated in color 
Memphis, Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Art Today in the South - Works from Eight Private Collectors, December 1976 - January 1977

Peter Selz, Sam Francis, New York, 1975, p. 254, illustrated (installation photograph from the 1966 Galerie Kornfeld un Klipstein exhibition)

This painting is in excellent condition. Please contact the Contemporary Art department at 212-606-7254 for a condition report prepared by Terrence Mahon. The canvas is framed in a silver metal strip frame with a float.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

On the heels of Sam Francis' triumphant contributions to the grand gestures of the Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1950s, the early 1960s were a seminal transition for the artist, as they reveal a more contemplative and sophisticated approach to form and color.  The paintings from this series made their debut in 1961 at Galerie Kornfeld in Bern, and were characterized by blue anthropomorphic spheres suspended against his resplendent white hues and floating in clusters toward the perimeters of a canvas. By 1963, however, Francis exhausted the monochromatic palette, and reintroduced color in the form of jubilant reds and yellow, whose very presence heighten the explosive quality of Francis' abstraction. This expansion of palette was mirrored by an additive nature to his unique forms, as splashes of paint veil the canvas and its colorful cellular inhabitants.  The extraordinarily successful technical and stylistic tropes achieved in Silvio Set One, inspired the artist to paint a sister painting to the present work, aptly titled Silvio Set Two, presently in the Collection of the Yale University Art Gallery.