In Turn, Sam Francis Turn, 1972, demonstrates his masterful command of color, gesture, and spatial balance—qualities that made him one of the most influential figures of postwar American abstraction. With remarkable restraint and clarity, Francis places bold, fluid strokes of radiant color against a vast expanse of luminous white space, allowing the composition to breathe while heightening the visual power of each mark.

The work unfolds through a sweeping horizontal band of vibrant red, yellow, and cobalt blue that stretches across the lower portion of the sheet, grounding the composition with dynamic movement. Rising dramatically at the right edge is a vertical column of layered color—emerald green, deep ultramarine, and magenta—that appears to pivot upward, echoing the title’s suggestion of motion and transformation. Small splashes and droplets of pigment animate the surrounding space, reinforcing the spontaneous energy that characterizes Francis’s celebrated visual language.

Francis was deeply interested in the relationship between gesture and emptiness, drawing inspiration from Zen philosophy and Asian aesthetics, where space is as vital as form. In Turn, the expansive white field becomes an active element within the composition, amplifying the intensity of the surrounding colors while creating a sense of openness and meditation.

Printed on fine Arjomari paper and numbered from the edition of just 70 impressions, this screenprint beautifully captures the immediacy and vitality of Francis’s painterly approach. During the early 1970s, the artist was at the height of his international acclaim, exhibiting widely across the United States, Europe, and Japan. His works are now held in the permanent collections of major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Tate Modern (London), and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Elegant in its simplicity yet powerful in its execution, Turn stands as a compelling example of Sam Francis’s ability to distill movement, color, and light into a strikingly modern and timeless composition.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
Sam Francis Turn, 1972 is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonné and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the sale of the work).

1. Sam Francis: Online Catalogue Raisonné Project, Ongoing, illustrated in color (online).
2. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.

About the Framing:
Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, Sam Francis Turn, 1972 is presented in a complementary moulding and optical grade Plexiglas.