David Littlejohn, who writes about art for the Wall Street Journal, recently posted this five star review of the Sam Francis: Catalogue Raisonné of Canvas and Panel Paintings, 1946-1994 on Amazon.com:
The Best Catalogue Raisonne I've seen September 9, 2013
Format:Hardcover
The wonder of Debra Burchett-Lere's Catalogue Raisonne of all known surviving 8,555 paintings (on canvas or panel) by Sam Francis is that you can examine each one in full color and full screen size by way of excellent CD images, which may then be enlarged for closer study. The details given for each painting are magnificently comprehensive. In addition, there are 116 color reproductions of Francis's more important paintings (and those of many other artists who influenced him) in William Agee's excellent 120-page bio-critical introduction, and a great many revealing photographs of Francis's life in Debra Burchett-Lere's 150-page "Time Line," the most thorough biography of the man and his legacy I have seen. The printed volume concludes with a 60 page of additional valuable information. There is also a second CD which includes copies of writings by Francis and his associates, as well as two fascinating short films showing Francis at work. $500 may seem a lot, but for you get a whole art gallery as well as two books in the library of information on America's most important abstract artist, and one of the world's greatest colorists. The single book and the two CDs are handsomely boxed in with strikes me as the best Catalogue Raisonne published so far. Clearly, a long labor of love by Ms. Burchett-Lereand the Sam Francis Foundation--who are now hard at work on a second Sam Francis CR, to include his more than 8000 works on paper.
To view the review on Amazon.com click here.
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