Untitled #6

Dateca. 1953

Maker Sam Francis American, 1923-1994

Label TextConfined to a California army hospital bed with a serious back injury in 1943, Francis was given a box of watercolors as a therapeutic activity. He became fascinated by changing effects of daylight on the ceiling: ". . . not just the play of light, but the substance of which light is made." After the war he abandoned his medical training and became an abstract painter. This subtle, mysterious watercolor dates from his early years in Paris. Patches of unpainted white paper and dramatic dark brown forms hover in a plae mist of thinly washed color.

Object number93.50

Photo CreditPhoto Credit: Susan Cole

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Collection Highlights: 1945 To The Present, Sept. 12, 1996 - June 1, 1997

Credit LineGift in honor of Millard B. Rogers

Dimensions17 1/2 x 13 1/2 in. (44.5 x 34.3 cm), image and sheet size

MediumInk and watercolor on paper