1923-2012
Born in 1923 in Kansas City, Missouri, Paul Jenkins was an American abstract expressionist painter. After graduating from school, Jenkins spent some time in the U.S. Maritime Service and then in the U.S. Naval Air Corps during the second world war.
After the war he moved to New York City, where he studied at the Arts Student League of New York. During his time there, he met influential artists Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner and Barnett Newman. During the 1950s Jenkins moved to Europe briefly, after which he would spend his time between Paris and New York.
Jenkins’ first solo exhibition took place in Paris on the Rue de Lille in 1954. His first U.S solo exhibition took place in the same year, and in 1956 he held a solo exhibition at the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York.
Jenkins is described as an abstract impressionist. In the early years of his career he worked in oil on primed canvas, as well as working on paper with ink and watercolour. In the 1960s, he began to move away from oil and started using acrylic. During the 1960s, his work was shown all over the world, including in London, Tokyo and Paris.
In subsequent decades, Jenkins experimented with different disciplines, including sculpture and collage, and continued to display his work worldwide.
