Very First Stone

Francis drew his first lithographs for Tatyana Grosman in 1959, while he was living in a New York studio rented from Larry Rivers, the first artist invited to work at U.L.A.E. After the stones were drawn, they were taken to the workshop on Long Island for proofing. Francis, matching Grosman's slow deliberation was in no hurry to release the prints, and they had not arrived at a solution when Francis left New York early in 1960. Subsequently, Francis made his first released lithographs at Emil Matthieu's workshop in Zurich. Their success made him a committed printmaker.