Sam Francis's work during the 1970s marks a significant period of innovation and transition in his career. Having already established himself as a major international artist with exhibitions across the globe, Francis entered the '70s seeking to reinvent his approach to painting. This decade is characterized by his dynamic exploration of color, form, and space, producing some of his most sophisticated works. During this period, Francis experimented with creating an underlying grid system on his canvases using water, tinted gesso, brushes, and rollers. This method allowed him to apply overlapping lines of color that broke down the composition into a complex interplay of geometric shapes. These works, often referred to as the “Fresh Air paintings,” demonstrated Francis's continuous evolution as an artist, always in transition and experimentation with new techniques and ideas (Artnet News).
Francis's interest in negative space and the color white, which had been a consistent element in his work from the 1950s, took on new dimensions in the '70s. This period saw him moving away from the concentrated action of his Edge paintings to incorporate more expansive blank sections within his compositions, inspired by his experiences in Japan and the concept of "ma." This concept emphasizes the dynamic relationship between form and non-form, acknowledging the empty space as equally important as the rest of the artwork. Francis's innovative use of "ma" in his paintings from this era helped distinguish his work from contemporaries in the Abstract Expressionism movement. The serenely poetic deployment of negative space during this time became a defining characteristic of Francis's style, allowing for a serene and contemplative engagement with his canvases (Artnet News) (Wikipedia).
In addition to his exploration of spatial concepts, the '70s also saw Francis engaging more deeply with influences from Japanese art and culture, further integrating the principle of "ma" into his work. His time in Japan not only influenced his artistic practices but also contributed to a deeper understanding of the interplay between positive and negative space in his compositions (Masterworks Fine Art).
Taken together, Francis's work from the 1970s represents a crucial phase of his artistic journey, marked by deep conceptual explorations and significant stylistic developments. This decade of work underscores Francis's position as a critical figure in the landscape of 20th-century painting, continually pushing the boundaries of abstract expressionism and color field painting through his innovative approaches to composition, color, and form (Artnet News) (www.wikiart.org).