The Art Institute of Chicago

In Lovely Blueness, 1955-56 by Sam FrancisAuthor(s): Daniel SchulmanSource: Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, Vol. 25, No. 1, Modern and ContemporaryArt: The Lannan Collection at The Art Institute of Chicago (1999), pp. 16-17+99Published by: The Art Institute of ChicagoStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4112977 .

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Sam Francis (AMERICAN; 1923-1994)

In Lovely Blueness, 1955-56

Oil on canvas; 309.9 x 365.8 cm (122 x 144 in.) [see p. 89]

:::~?

am Francis's monumental canvas In Lovely Blueness evokes the sensation of standing at the threshold of a vast and boundless space that seems

to expand and contract as if it were a living organism. Large areas of thinly applied white paint, frosted with streaks of

lavender, cover most of the surface. These fluffy shapes float and converge, suspended in a loose matrix of scumbled bursts and spattered rivulets of transparent, prismatic col- ors: red, yellow, orange, and blue. At approximately ten by twelve feet, this painting was one of Francis's largest works to date; it inaugurated, in the late 195os, a succession of even

larger, intensely lyrical, and critically acclaimed paintings. Airy, expansive, and exuberant, these works are informed

by a variety of artistic sources, including Abstract Expres- sionism and early twentieth-century French art.

Francis began to paint in earnest during a long period of convalescence from the grave injuries that he suffered in an airplane accident while he was training as a pilot in World War II. Largely immobilized for months, constrained to lie on his back or stomach, Francis later said that he "probably would have died if it had not been for painting."' After his

recovery, he completed a degree in painting at the Univer-

sity of California, Berkeley. Although far from New York, the San Francisco Bay Area was hardly provincial in these

years: visiting teachers such as Hans Hofmann, Mark Rothko, and Clyfford Still (see p. 20) exposed students like Francis to New York School abstraction. After Francis graduated in

195o, he bypassed New York altogether, going directly to

Europe on a GI Bill stipend. Living in Paris for most of the 195os, Francis quickly

developed a unique, hybrid manner, characterized in part by a merging of the two main strains of Abstract Expressionism: on the one hand, the gestural, calligraphic, and energetic brushwork of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning; and, on the other, the strong emphasis on color harmony of

Rothko, Still, and Barnett Newman. At the same time, Francis incorporated lessons learned from the late Impres- sionist works of Claude Monet and Paul Cezanne, as well as their twentieth-century followers Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse. In I953 the Orangerie reopened in Paris, giving many visitors, including Francis, their first experience of

Monet's astonishing Water Lilies, mural decorations that condense and collapse views of sky and garden on an ever-

changing, reflective surface of water. Francis's encounter with these expansive, lyrical, and virtually abstract works

proved an essential component of his artistic education.

In Lovely Blueness is one of two paintings with that

title that Francis made between 1955 and 1957. The Art Institute's canvas, probably the first of the two, was acquired

by J. Patrick Lannan, Sr., in 1959, after it was shown in sev-

eral West Coast museums. The other, even larger version is

now in the collection of the Musee national d'art moderne, Paris. Francis, who was often inspired by literary works and

kept a notebook containing titles of books and verses, named these paintings after a poem by the German Roman-

tic writer Friedrich H61lderlin. "In Lovely Blueness," which touches on many issues of art, nature, and identity, begins with the author gazing into the sky:

In lovely blue the steeple blossoms With its metal roof. Around which Drift swallow cries, around which Lies most loving blue.2

D. S.

16 Museum Studies

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Museum Studies 17

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Explosion at Sea, 1966, pp. 30-31

I. Philadelphia, p. 15.

2. According to David McKee (McKee to Lisa Lyons of Lannan Founda- tion, Los Angeles, 1992), Explosion at Sea is based on a photograph of an unsuccessful Kamikaze pilot attack on a United States aircraft carrier, the Suwannee, which took place in October 1944 in the Pacific theater of World War II.

3. On the relationship of the series to Celmins's childhood, see Los Angeles; and Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art, Vija Celmins, exh. brochure (i993).

4. Celmins, quoted in Philadelphia, p. 15.

CLOSE, CHUCK

Close, Chuck. The Portraits Speak: Chuck Close in Conversation with 27 of His Subjects. New York, I997.

Guare, John. Chuck Close: Life and Work, 1988-1995. New York, 1995. Lyons, Lisa, and Robert Storr. Chuck Close. New York, 1987. Minneapolis, Walker Art Center. Close Portraits. Exh. cat. by Lisa Lyons

and Martin Friedman. 1980. New York, The Museum of Modern Art, et al. Chuck Close. Exh. cat. by

Robert Storr et al. 1998.

Alex, 1991, pp. 74-75

I. The Lannan Collection contains several objects related to the I991 Alex painting, including a Polaroid of Alex Katz (Checklist no. ii) and a Polaroid used as a maquette (Checklist no. 12).

2. Close, pp. 316-17.

3. Both paintings actually contain a range of blues and browns despite their grisaille effect.

4. Close, p. 319-

5. Ibid.

Alex/Reduction Prints, 1991-93, pp. 76-77

I. Linoleum was originally composed of linseed oil, cork, and binding agents. It is much easier to cut into than modern synthetic linoleums, which are all plastic-based. Battleship linoleum, which dates back to the turn of the twentieth century, came in huge sheets used for the decks of ships. Linoleum manufactured with the original formula is hard to find nowadays, but especially so in battleship-sized sheets.

2. Deborah Wye, "Changing Expressions: Printmaking," in New York, p. 8o.

DEFEO, JAY

Berkeley, University of California, University Art Museum. Jay DeFeo: Works on Paper. Exh. cat. by Sidra Stich. 1989.

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art. Beat Culture and the New America: 195o0-965. Exh. cat. 1995.

Philadelphia, Moore College of Art and Design, Goldie Paley Gallery. Jay DeFeo: Selected Works 1952-1989. Exh. cat. 1996.

San Francisco, Museo ItaloAmericano.Jay DeFeo: The Florence View and Related Works 1950-1954. Exh. cat. with essays by Klaus Kertess, Constance Lewallen, and Robert A. Whyte. 1997-

San Francisco, San Francisco Art Institute. Jay DeFeo: Selected Works, Past and Present. Exh. cat. by Thomas Albright and David S. Rubin. 1984.

The Annunciation, 1957-59, pp. 18-19

i. Philadelphia, p. ii.

2. DeFeo to J. Patrick Lannan, Sr., 1959; published in ibid., pp. 12-13-

FRANCIS, SAM

Paris, Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume. Sam Francis, les annies parisi- ennes, 195o0-961. Exh. cat. 1995.

Selz, Peter. Sam Francis. Rev. ed. New York, 1982.

In Lovely Blueness, 1955-56, pp. 16-17

i. Francis, quoted in Selz, p. 20.

2. Friedrich H6lderlin, Hymns and Fragments, trans. by Richard Sieburth (Princeton, N.J., 1984), p. 249.

FRIEDMAN, TOM

Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago. Affinities: Chuck Close and Tom Friedman. Exh. brochure by Madeleine Grynsztejn. 1996.

New York, The Museum of Modern Art. Projects 5o: Tom Friedman. Exh. cat. and interview by Robert Storr. 1995.

St. Louis, The Saint Louis Art Museum. Currents 70: Tom Friedman. Exh. cat. by Rochelle Steiner. 1997.

Untitled, 1993, pp. 80-81

I. Friedman started with a small, glue-infused core of stiffened string, so that the work would withstand the rigors of being moved.

2. According to Friedman, the connection to "Cousin It" pleases him not only for the linguistic suggestion of vagueness carried by the name and subject, but also for the somewhat corny humor and pop familiarity of the television show. Friedman, conversation with author, Mar. 8, 1999.

3. Ibid.

GONZALEZ-TORRES, FELIX

Gonzalez-Torres, Felix. Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Interview by Tim Rollins; essay by Susan Cahan; short story by Jan Avgikos. New York, i993.

Graz, Switzerland, Neue Galerie Graz. Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Rudolf Stingel. Exh. cat. by Jan Avgikos. 1994.

Hannover, Sprengel Museum, et al. Felix Gonzalez-Torres. 2 vols. Exh. cat. and cat. rais. by Dietmar Elger. Ostfildern-Ruit/New York, 1997.

Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art. Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Exh. cat. 1994.

Munich, Sammlung Goetz. Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Roni Horn. Exh. cat. 1995. New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Felix Gonzalez-Torres.

Exh. cat. by Nancy Spector. 1995.

Museum Studies 99

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