After traveling to Japan for the first time in 1957, he never let go of his fascination: from then on, influences of Japanese art and culture shaped the paintings of Abstract Expressionist Sam Francis. Beginning April 9, LACMA explores this cultural dialogue for the first time with Sam Francis and Japan: Emptiness Overflowing.
As a young painter, the American Sam Francis, who had previously studied botany, medicine, and psychology, was influenced by a wide variety of ideas and experimented widely. During the 1950s he turned to Abstract Expressionism and maintained this style. His paintings became unique through the processing of Japanese art and cultural forms. Francis traveled there for the first time in 1957, setting up a studio in Tokyo in the 1960s and 70s. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is now shedding light for the first time on how Francis' fascination with Japan shaped his work. Sam Francis and Japan: Emptiness Overflowing runs April 9 through July 16.
Sam Francis (1923 - 1994) was inspired primarily by the Japanese concept of »ma«, which deals with negative space. It places form and emptiness, that is, non-form, in a relationship and emphasizes the importance of emptiness in an image. In Francis' work, emptiness often becomes the center of a painting. In order to compare the »Western« interpretation of Sam Francis with Japanese interpretations, LACMA complements the exhibition with works by Japanese artists who were in contact with Francis in the 1960s and 1970s.
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