American, 1923–2012

Paul Jenkins was an American abstract artist and member of the New York School. Jenkins’s innovative practice was characterized by his choice to avoid the paintbrush altogether, instead allowing pigment to pool, bloom, or roll across the surface of his canvases, guiding the paint with a knife to create fluid fields of color, as seen his work Phenomena series. “With the smooth organic surface of the ivory, I could use great pressure against the sensitive tooth of the canvas,” the artist said of his process. Along with his association with the Abstract Expressionists, especially Jackson Pollock, Jenkins was influenced by his study of Eastern religions and philosophy and the writings of the psychologist Carl Gustav Jung.

Born William Paul Jenkins on July 12, 1923 in Kansas City, MO, Jenkins worked at a ceramics factory in his youth, an experience that heavily influenced his tactile methods of painting. He studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and the Art Students League in New York with Yasuo Kuniyoshi. A close friend of Mark Rothko, Jenkins remained tied to the city even during his move to Paris during the 1950s. The painter died on June 9, 2012 in New York, NY at the age of 88. Today, his works are included in the collections of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and The Museum of Modern Art in New York, among others.

EDUCATION:
Kansas City Art Institute
Art Students League of New York

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2017
Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley, California.
2016
Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, UK.
Chapel of Meditation. University at Buffalo Anderson Gallery, New York.
2015
The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown.
Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley.
2014
Robert Miller Gallery, New York.
Museo di Pittura Murale, Prato.
Redfern Gallery, London.
Galleria Open Art, Prato.
2012
Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley.
2011
The Redfern Gallery, London.
2010
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento.
Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley.
Palazzo Pacchiani, Prato.
Galleria Open Art, Prato.
UB Anderson Gallery, State University of New York
at Buffalo.
Galleria Civica Ezio Mariani di Seregno.
2009
D. Wigmore Fine Art, New York.
Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, Jacksonville.
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, New York location.
Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley, California.
2008
Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley, California.
2007
Galleria Open Art, Cornice Art Fair, Venice.
Redfern Gallery, London.
D. Wigmore Fine Art, New York.
2006
Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley, California.
Maison des Princes de Pérouges. Pérouges.
Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock.

2005
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille.
Redfern Gallery, London.
Galleria Open Art, Prato.
Abbaye de Silvacane, La Roque d'Anthéron.
Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley, California.
Galerie Proarta, Zurich.
2004
Museo Civico, Assessorato alla Cultura di Pizzighettone.
2003
Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte.
Redfern Gallery, London.
2002
Chateau Haut-Gléon, Les Corbières.
2001
Galerie Proarta, Zurich.
Centre d'Art Contemporain, Bouvet Ladubay, Saumur.
2000
Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown.
Basilica Palladiana, Vicenza.
Joseph Rickards Gallery, New York.
Vero Beach Museum of Art, Vero Beach, Florida (collage retrospective).
1999
Galerie Patrice Trigano, Paris.
Hofstra Museum, Hempstead, New York.
Joseph Rickards Gallery, New York.
1998
Joseph Rickards Gallery, New York.
1997
Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown.
Galerie Georges Fall, Paris.
Galerie Proarta, Zurich.
1996
Lorenzelli Arte, Milan.
1995
Artcurial, Paris (graphics).
Centre d'art contemporain, Bouvet Ladubay, Saumur.
Galerie Proarta, Zurich.
Chateau Musée Grimaldi, Cagnes sur mer.
Associated American Artists, New York.
1994
Gallery Art Point, Tokyo.
Pasquale Iannetti Gallery, San Francisco.
L'Eau et la Couleur, traveling watercolor exhibition in France.
La Maison Française, New York University, New York (collages: Hommage à Jean-Louis Barrault).
1993
Smith Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto.
Yoshii Gallery, Paris (collages).
Associated American Artists, New York (collages).
1992
Roswitha Haftmann Gallery, Zurich.
Atelier Franck Bordas, Basel Art Fair and Paris.
Guy Pieters Gallery, Knokke-le-Zoute.
Associated American Artists, New York.
1991
Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York (polyptychs I).
Gimpel Fils, London (polyptychs II).
1990
Galerie Patrice Trigano, Paris.
Castello Doria, Portovenere.
Gallery Art Point, Tokyo.
1989
Musées de Nice: Galerie des Ponchettes et
Galerie d'Art Contemporain, Nice.
1988
Samuel Stein Gallery, Chicago.
Galerie Patrice Trigano, Paris.
Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York (collages).
Galerie Régis Dorval, Le Touquet.
Gana Gallery, Seoul.
Galleria La Loggia, Bologna.
1987
Galerie 63, Klosters.
Samuel Stein Gallery, Chicago.
Musée Picasso, Antibes (retrospective).
Galerie Régis Dorval, Lille.
Galleri Atrium, Stockholm.
1986
Gimpel Fils, London.
MR Galleria d'Arte Contemporaneo, Rome.
Galerie Michel Delorme, Paris.
Roswitha Haftmann, Zurich.
Gallery Art Point, Tokyo.
Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown (collages).
Focus Gallery, Lausanne.
Elaine Horwitch Gallery, Santa Fe and Scottsdale.
Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York.
1985
Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York.
Gallery Moos, Toronto.
Galerie Georges Fall, Paris.
Gallery Art Atrium, Stockholm.
FIAC, Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, Paris.
1984
Carone Gallery, Fort Lauderdale.
Musée d'Art Contemporain, Dunkirk (collages).
Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York.
1983
Mead Art Museum, Amherst.
Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York.
Galerie Georges Fall, Paris.
Alex Rosenberg Gallery, New York (collages).
Contemporary Gallery, Dallas.
1982
Nicoline Pon Gallery, Zurich.
Gimpel Fils, London.
I. Irving Feldman Galleries, Detroit.
Galerie Georges Fall, Paris.
Contemporary Gallery, Dallas.
1981
Belk Art Gallery, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee.
Carone Gallery, Fort Lauderdale.
Samuel Stein Gallery, Chicago.
French Cultural Services, New York, traveling to la Maison International du Théâtre, Théâtre du Rond-Point, Paris (collages: Hommage à Jean-Louis Barrault).
Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York.
I. Irving Feldman Galleries, Sarasota.
1980
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California (retrospective).
Elaine Horwitch Gallery, Scottsdale.
Gimpel Fils, London.
Contemporary Gallery, Dallas.
Galerie Karl Flinker, Paris.
1979
Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York.
Baukunst Galerie, Cologne.
Elaine Horwitch Gallery, Scottsdale.
1978
Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York.
Samuel Stein Gallery, Chicago.
Elaine Horwitch Gallery, Santa Fe.
Balcon des Arts, Paris.
Diane Gilson Gallery, Seattle.
Galleria d'Arte Narciso, Turin.
1977
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.
Gimpel & Hanover Galerie, Zurich.
La Galerie Cours Saint-Pierre, Geneva.
Sears Bank & Trust Company, Chicago.
Contemporary Gallery, Dallas.
Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa.
Diane Gilson Gallery, Seattle.
1976
Samuel Stein Gallery, Chicago.
Galerie Karl Flinker, Paris and Basel Art Fair, Basel.
Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York.
1975
Galerie Tanit, Munich.
Carone Gallery, Fort Lauderdale.
Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer, New York.
1974
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Charleroi, Charleroi (retrospective).
Baukunst Galerie, Cologne.
Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York.
Gimpel Fils, London.
Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Columbus.
1973
Galerie Karl Flinker, Paris.
Art Gallery of the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame.
Lindenwood College Art Gallery, St. Charles, Missouri.
Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City.
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.
Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York.
1972
San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco (retrospective).
Gimpel Fils, London.
Abrams Original Editions, New York.
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Initiates exhibition traveling to the Amarillo Art Center, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, Lauren Rodgers Memorial Library and Art Gallery, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Witte Memorial Museum.
1971
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (retrospective).
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.
Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago.
Gertrude Kasle, Detroit.
1970
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.
1969
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.
1968
Galerie Daniel Gervis, Paris.
Gallery Moos, Toronto.
Galerie Räber, Lucerne.
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.
1966
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.
Galerie Agnès LeFort, Montreal.
Hope Makler Gallery, Philadelphia.
Arthur Tooth & Sons, London.
1965
Galerie Karl Flinker, Paris.
Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit.
Court Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Gallery of Modern Art, Scottsdale.
1964
Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo.
American Art Gallery, Copenhagen.
Kumar Gallery, New Delhi.
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.
Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hanover (retrospective).
1963
Arthur Tooth & Sons, London.
Galerie Karl Flinker, Paris.
Gallery Moos, Toronto.
1962
Galerie Lienhard, Zurich.
Galerie Karl Flinker, Paris.
Esther Robles Gallery, Los Angeles.
Toninelli Arte Moderna, Milan.
Galleria Odyssia, Rome.
Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne.
1961
Galerie Karl Flinker, Paris.
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.
University Gallery, University of Minnesota.
1960
Arthur Tooth & Sons, London.
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.
Esther Robles Gallery, Los Angeles.
Galerie d'Art Moderne, Stuttgart.
1959
Galerie Stadler, Paris.
1958
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.
1957
Galerie Stadler, Paris.
1956
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.
1955
Zoe Dusanne Gallery, Seattle.
1954Zimmergalerie Franck, Frankfort am Main.
Studio Paul Facchetti, Paris (first solo exhibition).

SELECTED MUSEUM COLLECTIONS:
Archives of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution
Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Fogg Museum of Art of Harvard University, Cambridge
Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Museum of Modern Art, New York
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Tate, London
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
Jenkins, Paul. Strike the Puma. Editions Gonthier, Paris, 1966.
Jenkins, Paul, and Suzanne Donnelly Jenkins. Anatomy of a Cloud, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1983.
Jenkins, Paul, and Suzanne Donnelly Jenkins. Anatomie d'un nuage. Paris: Ed. Galilée. 1985.
Jenkins, Paul and Jenkins, Esther. Observations of Michel Tapié." George Wittenborn in New York, 1956.

HONORS:
Jenkins gained a level of notoriety when his paintings appeared in the Academy Award nominated 1978 movie An Unmarried Woman directed by Paul Mazursky.