Untitled SFE 020 (Lembark I53) - Sam Francis

A 1985 lithograph by Sam Francis, featuring gestural marks and saturated colour blocks arranged in vertical bands.

Untitled SFE 020 (Lembark I53) is a lithograph by Sam Francis, an artist associated with the second generation of American Abstract Expressionists. Produced in 1985, this work demonstrates the artist's preoccupation with the interplay of colour, light, and negative space. Francis often utilised the white of the paper as an active element rather than a passive background, allowing his gestural marks to float across the surface with a sense of weightlessness.

The composition is organised into vertical bands, a structural choice that echoes the artist's interest in the relationship between the edges of the frame and the internal movement of the forms. Within these columns, Francis employs a variety of marks, ranging from controlled, saturated colour blocks to thin, splattered lines that suggest spontaneity. The palette includes primary tones alongside deep purples and teals, creating a visual rhythm that draws the eye across the paper.

Francis spent significant time in Paris and Japan, and his work reflects a synthesis of Western gestural painting and Eastern calligraphic traditions. His printmaking practice was rigorous, often involving multiple plates to achieve the desired transparency and layering of ink. This specific piece, documented in the Lembark catalogue raisonné as I53, captures the energy of his later graphic output. The marks appear to hover, creating a sense of depth despite the two-dimensional nature of the medium. The balance between the dense clusters of pigment and the open, unprinted areas provides a clear example of his mature style, where the physical act of painting is translated into the precise medium of lithography.