Sam Francis’s Untitled – SF 297, 1987, is a luminous and energetic composition that exemplifies the artist’s celebrated exploration of color, movement, and abstraction. Created as a lithograph and screenprint in colors on paper, the work captures the spontaneity and expressive freedom that made Francis one of the most important abstract painters of the postwar era.

Known for his vibrant palettes and atmospheric compositions, Francis approached printmaking with the same painterly intensity that defined his monumental canvases. In this work, bursts of radiant color appear to float across the surface with a sense of rhythm and motion, creating a composition that feels both spontaneous and carefully balanced. The openness of the composition, combined with Francis’s signature use of saturated color and gestural forms, evokes both energy and tranquility simultaneously.

By the late 1980s, Francis had fully mastered the translation of his painterly language into printmaking, producing works that possess extraordinary depth, texture, and visual luminosity. Untitled – SF 297 stands as an exceptional example from this mature period, showcasing the artist’s remarkable ability to create emotional intensity through abstraction alone.

Created in a limited edition of only 50 impressions, the work is signed and numbered in pencil by the artist along the lower edge, with the title and date identified on a label affixed to the reverse of the frame.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
Sam Francis’s Untitled – SF 297, 1987 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’s Untitled – SF 297, 1987 is presented in a complementary moulding and optical grade Plexiglas.