Paul Jenkins (the estate of)

1923-2012

Biography

Paul Jenkins was born in Kansas City Missouri, in 1923 and later moved to Youngstown, Ohio.

Drawn to New York, and on the GI Bill, he attended the Art Students League and became a student of Yasuo Kuniyoshi and ultimately became associated with the Abstract Expressionists, inspired in part by the “cataclysmic challenge of Pollock and the total metaphysical consumption of Mark Tobey.” Jenkins was a friend and contemporary of many other notable artists including Jean Dubuffet, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, all of whom inspired his practice. He also travelled throughout Europe including Sicily, then Spain and later to France, which would become a second home to the artist throughout his life.

‘’The paintings of Paul Jenkins have come to represent the spirit, vitality, and invention of post-World War II American abstraction. Employing an unorthodox approach to paint application, Jenkins is as much identified with the process of controlled paint-pouring and canvas manipulation as with the gem-like veils of transparent and translucent color which have characterized his work since the late 1950s’’. The artist held a lifelong fascination with Eastern religions and philosophy, and the study of the I Ching, along with the writings of Carl Jung prompted his turn toward introspective reflection and mysticism which have dominated his artistic aesthetic as well as his personal life. Paul Jenkins continued to paint up until his death in 2012, at the age of 88.

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Exhibitions

2022 Paul Jenkins: Works on Canvas from the Nineties and Noughties, Ronchini, London

Paul Jenkins: From America’s Heartland to an International Journey, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL

2020 Redfern Gallery (online), London, UK

2019 Art Expo Chicago, Ronchini Gallery, London, UK 2018 Redfern Gallery, London, UK

2019 Painting for Performance, McNay Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas, USA

2018 Redfern Gallery, London, UK

2018 Museo Nacional Centro de Arte, Reina Sofía, Madrid. Lost, Loose and Loved: Foreign Artists inParis 1944-1968.

2016 Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, UK

2015 Tribute Exhibition. The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH

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