Untitled SF55-003Affiche encadrée

Untitled SF55-003 belongs to the postwar years, when painters treated the canvas as a place for paint to act. Sam Francis worked in that current, letting thinned colour spread and settle into loose, open shapes rather than tight outlines.

The framed poster is a printed sheet held in a wooden frame, with a back panel behind it. It arrives assembled, so it goes straight on the wall. The matte print keeps the soft edges of each spread area calm under a lamp.

Hang it in the dining room, on the wall beside the sideboard. From the doorway the pale patches read as one open field, and the darker marks hold the middle together.