Sam Francis(born in 1923, San Mateo, California, U.S.—died in 1994, Santa Monica, California), was an American painter and printmaker who was prominent among the group of painters known as the second generation of Abstract Expressionists. Francis studied at the University of California at Berkeley in 1941–43. He joined the U.S. Army Air Corps and was injured in a plane crash. During his lengthy hospitalization he began to paint to distract himself, and he was soon engrossed. He painted his first abstract compositions in 1947. For the next few decades he traveled and studied extensively, maintaining studios in Bern, Paris, Tokyo, Mexico City, New York and Northern and Southern California. Through his travels he was exposed to many styles, techniques and cultural influences, which informed the development of his own dialogue and style of painting. Known for his exuberantly colorful, large-scale abstract paintings, his practice incorporated elements from Abstract Expressionism, Color Field painting, Impressionism, and Eastern philosophy to create a unique style of painterly abstraction. Influenced by Jackson Pollock and Clyfford Still, Francis is more closely associated to the work of Helen Frankenthaler, as he was more interested in the formal arrangement of the picture plan than the expressivity of the individual artist. He possessed a lyrical and gestural hand, enabling him to capture and record the brilliance, energy and intensity of color at different moments of time and periods of his life. His artworks embody his love of literature, music and science, while reflecting his deep range of emotions and personal turmoil. Francis has been the subject of dozens of exhibitions at institutions that include the Stanley Museum of Art at the University of Iowa, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Tate Britain, Whitney Museum of American Art, and many more.