A Sam Francis Bonanza for MOCA : Art: Donation of 10 works is the largest gift from an artist in the museum’s history. ‘I felt the paintings belonged there.’

Sam Francis, an internationally acclaimed artist known for exuberant, spiritually charged abstractions, has given 10 of his paintings to the Museum of Contemporary Art. The donation, including major works from 1951 to 1992, is the largest single gift to MOCA from an artist in the museum’s history, museum Director Richard Koshalek said.

The next largest artist’s gift to MOCA came in 1985 from the late Louise Nevelson, who donated six works including a massive wall sculpture, “Sky Cathedral, Southern Mountain.”

“Sam’s gift is a very emotional event for MOCA because he has been involved with the museum since its beginning 14 years ago,” Koshalek said. Francis, 70, is a founding trustee of the museum and served on MOCA’s board of trustees until 1989.

“Sam has been the heart of MOCA,” Frederick M. Nicholas, chairman emeritus of the museum’s board of trustees, said. “He organized artists and collectors before the museum was formed. He helped to get Arata Isozaki as MOCA’s architect and worked with him to develop a magnificent building. This gift of paintings is the culmination of Sam’s love for the museum and what it stands for. It’s an incredible commitment from a great artist.”

Reached by telephone at his home in Santa Monica, Francis said that MOCA is the logical place for his work. “I felt the paintings belonged there,” he said. “They are what MOCA needs and that’s the best place for them.” The artist said he had worked with the museum’s staff to decide which works to donate. He may give a few works to other museums, but he is not planning other large donations, Francis said.

Selections were made to give MOCA a body of Francis’ work equal in importance to its holdings by Abstract Expressionists Mark Rothko and Franz Kline, French artist Jean Fautrier and other major figures, according to Koshalek.

Four of the paintings mark watersheds in Francis’ career, he said. “Grey,” a 1951 oil, is part of a series of “white” paintings created in Paris and a rare example of Francis’ early work. “Mantis” (1961-62) is a prime example of Francis’ “Blue Balls” series, typified by an open white center surrounded by liquid shapes of primary colors. An untitled acrylic painting from 1967 exemplifies his “sail paintings,” with a vast, white rectangle framed by narrow bands of bright pigment. “Dark Beams”--the largest work, at 150 by 269 inches--is a 1978 acrylic painting from Francis’ “grid” series.

Other works in the gift are “Blue and Red Balls,” a 1962 acrylic-on-paper piece; “Blue Jade,” a 1982 acrylic painting; two untitled gouache-on-paper abstractions, from 1956-57 and 1960; and two untitled acrylic paintings, from 1964 and 1992.

In announcing the gift, Koshalek also revealed plans for a retrospective exhibition of Francis’ art. About 100 works will be shown in an exhibition scheduled to open late in 1996 at the museum’s Temporary Contemporary facility in Little Tokyo. The show is expected to travel across the country and to Tokyo and Paris, he said.

MOCA had planned to host a 200-work retrospective organized by the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn, Germany, and shown there earlier this year. But complications with loans of artworks made the plan unworkable, so MOCA will organize its own retrospective, press officer Dawn Setzer said.