(b San Mateo, CA, 1923;d Santa Monica, CA, 1994) American Painter and Printmaker. Sam Francis began to paint after a plan crash and illness hospitalized him. He completed his BA (1949) and MA (1950) at the University of California at Berkeley. During this period, Surrealism and the Abstract Expressionism of Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and particularly Clyfford Still influenced Francis. In 1956, he was featured in the “12 Americans” exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Besides his work on canvas, Francis painted several murals for major institutions and established The Litho Shop to create his own prints. Francis died due to complications of cancer in 1994. (Biographical information courtesy of the Sam Francis Foundation)