Paul Jenkins (1923, Missouri, USA – 2012, New York, USA) was born in Kansas City, Missouri and later moved to New York. There he attended the Art Students League and became a student of Yasuo Kuniyoshi. Ultimately, he became associated with the Abstract Expressionists, inspired in part by the “cataclysmic challenge of Pollock and the total metaphysical consumption of Mark Tobey”. He was a friend of Jean Dubuffet, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, who inspired and influenced his practice. Throughout his life he travelled to Italy, Spain and France, which would later become his second home. Known for his abstract expressionist paintings, he used experimental techniques to create bold compositions. Jenkins poured paint directly onto his canvas, tilting it to produce movements without the constraints of using a paintbrush.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

Cast of Shadows, The Redfern Gallery, London (2020); Local Color, The San Jose Museum of Art, California (2012); Paul Jenkins, The Redfern Gallery, London (2011); Paul Jenkins, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento (2010); Paul Jenkins in the 1960s and 1970s: Space, Colour and Light, D. Wigmore Fine Art, New York (2009); Paul Jenkins, The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, Jacksonville (2009); and Paul Jenkins, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. (2009).

Selected Collections

MoMA, New York;  Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington; Tate Modern, London; and Centre Pompidou, Paris.