Sam Francis

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Sam Francis: Elements and Archetypes

Sam Francis; Michael Zakian

Synopsis:
Art historians praise American artist Sam Francis (1923-1994) for painting bold abstract images that elude definition. They often celebrate his ability to create art that seems to be fluid and formless with shapes that are constantly emerging and dissolving. Their specific images -- mandalas, trellises, spirals, self-portraits -- emerged from the artist's psyche, giving form to ideas he could feel and sense but not put into words, but that speak of the great and powerful forces that drive the human mind. Francis painted these archetypal images throughout his career, but they dominated his art during the 1970s when he was deeply involved in studying the thought of the Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung. It was Jung's sweeping ideas about the nature of the cosmos, the relationships and paradoxes between all things, and the creative chaos fundamental to the universe that Francis recognized to be true.

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Other editions: Hardcover - 2006, Hardcover - 1998, 1997, Hardcover - 1996, Hardcover - 1996, 1995, Hardcover - 1995, 1994, 1993, Softcover - 1985