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ShareSam Francis: The 1950s and the Basel Mural Paintings in Context
Date :
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Time :
4:00 p.m. -
5:00 p.m.
Speaker : Debra Burchett-Lere, Director, Sam Francis Foundation
Type : Lecture
The Museum recently welcomed two important paintings into its collection: American Abstract Expressionist painter Sam Francis’s Basel Mural III, Fragments 1 and 2 were donated by the Sam Francis Foundation and now hang next to their companion Basel Mural I. Francis (1923–1994) began his exploration of painting and color in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1940s, and his artistic career developed during important stints in France, Switzerland, New York, Japan and Southern California. The Basel Mural paintings (1956–58) reflect Francis’s interest in painting, literature and poetry as well as his philosophical and spiritual influences. Debra Burchett-Lere discusses how the Basel Mural paintings relate to Francis’s life in the 1950s and provides a brief biography of the artist.