This abstract watercolour on paper Painting (1957) was made after the American artist Sam Francis had made trips to Mexico, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, India and Italy. He had studied at the California School of Fine Arts and was influenced by the New York-based Abstract Expressionist painters Mark Rothko (1903-1970) and Clyfford Still (1904-1980) who had visited the school in 1947. Although he often exhibited with the artists, gaining international recognition, he was living in Paris in the 1950s and was also inspired by French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. It was exhibited at the artist’s solo exhibition at Gimpel Fils in London, which opened in May 1957 and purchased by the Contemporary Art Society who donated it to Tate. It was probably painted while Francis was working in his studio near Chapultepec Park in Mexico City but also embodies his knowledge of Oriental thought and the prominent use of white alongside the bold colours displays a preoccupation with notions of empty space.
