With its vibrant splashes of color on dazzling white fields, the art of Sam Francis (1923–1994) seems to combine Monet’s sumptuous water lily canvases and a psychedelic light show with some Zen ink painting thrown in the mix. It turns out that that is exactly the capacious terrain occupied by Francis during his lifetime and reflected in his art. The sense of neither-nor that his art can provoke (neither American nor European, abstract expressionist nor pop, East nor West) is perhaps better understood as both-and: Francis had an all-encompassing vision. From Paris to Japan to the California coast, he covered a lot of cultural ground, and literal ground as well.
Light on Fire traces the peripatetic life and career of Francis over seven decades. The first full biography of the artist, its existence is more than justified by the remarkable facts and dramatic episodes of Francis’s life. From childhood trauma,...