Blue Balls, 1961

Blatt: 503 x 651 mm

Physical Description: Watercolour on wove paper

Inventory Number: 17890

Object Number: 17890 Z

Acquisition: Acquired in 2019 as a bequest from Ulrike Crespo from the Karl Ströher Collection

Status: Can be presented in the study room of the Graphische Sammlung (special opening hours)

Texts

About the Work

After his encounter with East Asian culture, Sam Francis departed from the painterly concentration of his earlier compositions in favour of an open, virtually liberated application of the medium. He introduced individual highlights in watercolour with a soft brush or sprayed it onto the paper. The rhythmic colour progressions of varying density and the tension-charged juxtapositions with blank areas produce vibrating pictorial spaces that fairly burst with colour and energy.

About the Acquisition

The Städel Museum has the photographer, psychotherapist, philanthropist, and long-time Frankfurt resident Ulrike Crespo (1950–2019) to thank for more than ninety works ranging from classical modernism to American pop art. The paintings, drawings, and prints by Wassily Kandinsky, Otto Dix, Oskar Schlemmer, Max Ernst, Jean Dubuffet, Cy Twombly, and others originally belonged to the holdings of her grandfather, the Darmstadt-based industrialist Karl Ströher (1890–1977), who amassed an extensive art collection after World War II.

Work Data

Basic Information

Title: Blue Balls

Draughtsman

Sam Francis

Period Produced

20th century

Object Type

drawing

Physical Description: Watercolour on wove paper

Material

Technique

Geographic Reference

North American

Label at the Time of Manufacture: Verso signiert, datiert und bezeichnet oben rechts (mit der Feder in Schwarz): Sam Francis / 1961 Bern / Mai

Captions Added Later: Verso nummeriert mittig (mit Bleistift): 33 [unterstrichen]; unten links: 44420

Watermark

entlang der rechten Blattkante: BFK RIVES

Property and Acquisition

Institution

Städel Museum

Departement

Department of Prints and Drawings

Collection

Städelsches Kunstinstitut

Creditline: Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main

Picture Copyright: © Sam Francis Foundation, California / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024

Acquisition: Acquired in 2019 as a bequest from Ulrike Crespo from the Karl Ströher Collection

Work Content

Motifs and References

Genre

abstraction

Iconclass

Primary

0 Abstract, Non-representational Art
22C4(BLUE) colours, pigments, and paints: blue
49D36 circle (~ planimetry, geometry)

Secondary

49D32 line (~ planimetry, geometry)
49D43 prism ~ stereometry

Research and Discussion

Provenance

Object History: Sam Francis (1923-1994)

Klipstein und Kornfeld, Bern

verkauft an Karl Ströher (1890-1977), Darmstadt, 1962

Nachlass Karl Ströher, 1977

an seine Enkelin Ulrike Crespo (1950-2019), Frankfurt am Main

Vermächtnis an das Städelsche Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main, 2019.

Information

Since 2001, the Städel Museum has systematically been researching the provenance of all objects that were acquired during the National Socialist period, or that changed owners or could have changed owners during those years. The basis for this research is the “Washington Declaration”, also known as the “Washington Conference Principles”, formulated at the 1998 “Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets” and the subsequent “Joint Declaration”.

The provenance information is based on the sources researched at the time they were published digitally. However, this information can change at any time when new sources are discovered. Provenance research is therefore a continuous process and one that is updated at regular intervals.

Ideally, the provenance information documents an object’s origins from the time it was created until the date when it found its way into the collection. It contains the following details, provided they are known: