Wright Auction

In the hands of a master, art awakens images of the eternal. We see the world in signet form. The flash of time scratches space like trajectories of subatomic particles. Essence and interval dance. 

Geometry like number is a given in the universe. Here the original chaos divides into the four paths. Earth’s sacred square touches the ring of Heaven. Energy and Consciousness, husband and wife, embrace. 

Sam Francis is a magis of the flux of painting. He opens mortal perception to the infinite as a gift outright. Nothing earned, nothing merited, just the magic of art. 

—Rosalind G. Wholden on Untitled (SF76-524)

Rosalind Wholden Thomas and her husband, Bob Thomas, met Sam Francis at a seminar on Psychology and Alchemy presented by Dr. James Kirsch of the Jung Institute (LA) in 1974. This encounter sparked a friendship and working relationship that endured until the artist’s death in 1994. Sam even became the godfather to their youngest son, born in 1975. At the time, Rosalind was writing for Arts Magazine, Art Forum, and The Beverly Hills Times as an art critic and reviewer. Sam admired her approach to art criticism and requested to use her writing. The first catalogue she contributed to was for an exhibition at the Smith Andersen Gallery in Palo Alto, CA, titled “Sam Francis: Black and White Lithographs 1963-1975”. Rosalind also provided writing for Sam’s portrait series and for works created at The Lithoshop, Santa Monica and the above text on the present lot, Untitled (SF76-524).

Rosalind held positions as an art lecturer at UCSC and the College of Creative Studies at UCSB. In this capacity, she was invited to present Sam’s work in university and museum settings, such as the MOCA Los Angeles retrospective in 1999. Her relationship with Sam and her analysis of his work are also featured in an interview captured in the documentary “The Painter Sam Francis” (2008), produced and directed by Jeffrey Perkins.