Paul Jenkins
Paul Jenkins was born on July 12, 1923, in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Between 1937 and 1942, he studied at the Kansas City Art Institute while working with the ceramicist James Weldon, who would significantly influence his paintings in the 1950s.
Passionate about theater, Jenkins received a scholarship to enroll at the Cleveland Play House, where he created stage sets. From 1943 to 1945, he served in the US Naval Air Corps. In 1948, he moved to New York and joined the Art Students League, where he met influential painters such as Morris Kantor and Mark Rothko. His teacher, the Japanese artist Yasuo Kuniyoshi, advised him to delve into the study of color.
In New York, Jenkins frequently visited the Frick Museum, drawing inspiration from masters like Francisco de Goya, Rembrandt, William Turner, Georges de La Tour, and Johannes Vermeer, for whom light was of paramount importance.
After graduating in 1953, Jenkins traveled to Italy and Spain on a scholarship. He then settled in Paris, where he mingled with artistic circles and met figures such as Jean Dubuffet, Georges Mathieu, and Pierre Soulages. In 1954, his first solo exhibition was held at the Studio Paul Facchetti in Paris, where he met gallerist Martha Jackson and artist Mark Tobey.
In 1955, his first solo exhibition in the United States was organized at the Zoe Dusanne Gallery in Seattle, marking the beginning of his success across the Atlantic. He also participated in group exhibitions at the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York. Peggy Guggenheim acquired one of his paintings in 1957.
In 1958, Jenkins began his "Eyes of the Dove" series in New York and participated in a group exhibition at the Museum of Art of Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh.
In 1960, inspired by Goethe's theories on color, he began his "Phenomena" series, using watercolor techniques to create effects on canvas. He also started using acrylic paint as soon as it became available in the American market in the early 1960s.
In 1961, his first solo exhibition was held at Galerie Karl Flinker, and his book "The Paintings of Paul Jenkins" was published by Éditions Two Cities in Paris.
In the following years, Jenkins' work was exhibited in various prestigious museums and galleries, both in the United States and Europe, receiving growing recognition. In 1967, he was awarded a painting medal at the 30th Biennale of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington. He also explored other forms of artistic expression, including glass sculpture with Egidio Costantini in Venice.
In 1971, two retrospectives of his work were organized, one at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and the other at the San Francisco Museum of Art. A monumental sculpture of his entered the collections of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York.
In 1973, his monograph was published by Harry N. Abrams in New York. He also began working on the Mandala Meditation Sundial, a bronze sculpture project.
In 1976, Jenkins started studying the effects of transparency and opacity inspired by Newton's prism, marking the beginning of his "Prisms" period.
In 1978, his "Anatomy of a Cloud" series was exhibited at the Gimpel Weitzenhoffer in New York. He continued experimenting with different materials and techniques, constantly exploring new artistic avenues.
In the following years, Jenkins' work was exhibited worldwide, and he received numerous distinctions, including the title of Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters from the French Republic in 1983.
In 1986, he wrote the choreographic piece "Prisme du Chaman," presented at the Paris Opera in 1987. A retrospective of his work was presented at the Picasso Museum in Antibes the same year.
In 2005, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille organized a retrospective of his works. He continued to be honored with numerous solo and group exhibitions until his death in New York in 2012.
In 2010, his archives were deposited at the Archives of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., comprising more than 6,000 pieces, including many photographs taken by his wife.