“My imagination will attempt the future…all dreams are in us Prophetic!”
– Sam Francis
As we embark on a new journey together in 2024, we extend our best wishes and appreciation of your ongoing support for Sam Francis’s legacy — encompassing his innovative spirit and oeuvre. We are filled with gratitude and appreciation for all the educational activities and programs this past year in celebration of Sam’s 100th birthday centennial (1923–1994). Thank you to everyone who helped spread the good cheer commemorating this milestone, especially a huge shoutout to the staff at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and all our collaborators (curatorial team Richard Speer, Hollis Goodall, and Leslie Jones) for the “Sam Francis and Japan: Emptiness Overflowing” exhibition and multitude of programs they organized (with special thanks to Elizabeth Gerber and Ravi GuneWardena).
Sam Francis Centennial exhibition, Anderson Collection, Stanford University, November 2023. L to R: Beth Ann Whittaker, Jason Linetzky, Robert Green, Gabrielle Selz, Debra Burchett-Lere and Charlotte Bernstrom.
In looking back, 2023’s celebrations were filled with important museum exhibitions and accompanying programs (LACMA; Bakersfield Museum of Art; Anderson Collection at Stanford University; Musée de L’Orangerie); gallery shows (including Galerie Delaive; Jack Rutberg Fine Arts; Bernard Jacobson Gallery; Robert Green Fine Arts; Opera Gallery; Galerie Etc.; Samuelis Baumgarte; A&R Fleury; American Contemporary Art Gallery); publications (including A History for the Future: The Museum of Contemporary Art, 1979–2000 design award and forthcoming The Circle of Sam Francis: Experimenting in California exhibition catalog); residency fellowships program (18th Street Arts Center Call to Dream with artists to and from Mexico City and to Tokyo); support to artists and art programs at several universities and local schools (Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Long Beach, UC Berkeley, Herron School of Art, Art Division, Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop); ongoing online catalogue raisonné documentation, archival explorations (Archive Connection), lectures and talks (Gabrielle Selz & John Seed on Light on Fire, Burchett-Lere & Selz on Francis to American Society of Appraisers, etc.); the ongoing development of Wind Harvest (Francis’s windmill dream), Lapis Press, and many other programs. We are especially thankful to our donors who provide support for our work including Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art, Gallery Delaive, Galerie Guy Pieters, LAMA (Los Angeles Modern Auctions), and the Ray and Wyn Ritchie Evans Foundation.
Curators, Leslie Jones, Hollis Goodall and Richard Speer with Debra Burchett-Lere at the opening of Sam Francis and Japan at LACMA, April 2023.
I am pleased as a small, but energized foundation, we keep working to advance the evolving-creative-dialogue we experience with our colleagues in the international art world. We are especially excited about our ongoing daily update of the Sam Francis: Online Catalogue Raisonné Project and thank those of you who subscribe to this publication. To date we have published over 4,255 entries (and counting) including updates to the canvas and limited edition prints catalogues previously published, as well as the inclusion of the artist’s monotypes designated as unique works on paper. The entries are not being added chronologically, so you will notice there are artwork entries from all decades at this time (1940s through 1990s). We urge you to peruse the catalogue and if artworks are notated as [Whereabouts Unknown?] and you have information on the current collection please contact us so we can update the entries.
The year brought sadness due to the passing of two of Francis’s primary dealers and close friends: Eberhard Kornfeld (Galerie Kornfeld, Bern) and Manny Silverman (Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles), as well as visual artist Robert Irwin who was part of Francis’s history in southern California with their development of MOCA. We honor their creative memories through our continued projects as they have been part of our foundation’s mission and ongoing development over the decades.
Sam Francis Board Members John Seed, Debra Burchett-Lere, Louise Steinman, Jenkins Shannon and Nancy Mozur during the opening of the Sam Francis and Japan exhibition at LACMA, April 2023.
Thank you for your continued involvement as we continue our work. On behalf of our dynamic board of directors (Nancy Mozur, John Seed, Jenkins Shannon, and Louise Steinman), our spirited associate director (Beth Ann Whittaker), and the Francis family we invite you to be an active participant in our ongoing journey honoring the art and life of the artist we represent. Please be on the lookout for our Newsletters announcing upcoming events and programs for 2024.
With hopeful, peaceful, healthful, and dream-filled goodwill for all.
Debra Burchett-Lere
Executive Director/President Board of Directors
Sam Francis Foundation