Paul Jenkins

Paul Jenkins (1923–2012) was an American abstract painter whose work is distinguished by sweeping veils of translucent colour, controlled paint-pouring and a sustained interest in light, movement and chance. Closely associated with Abstract Expressionism, he developed a highly individual technique in which paint was poured, tilted and guided across canvas or paper rather than applied primarily with a brush.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Jenkins moved to New York in 1948 and studied at the Art Students League under Yasuo Kuniyoshi until 1952. In 1953 he travelled to Europe, working first in Taormina, Sicily, before establishing a studio in Paris. For the rest of his career he divided his time between France and the United States.

His first solo exhibition was held at Studio Paul Facchetti in Paris in 1954, followed by exhibitions at the Zoe Dusanne Gallery, Seattle, in 1955 and the Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, in 1956, where he continued to exhibit for two decades. His first London solo exhibition was held at Arthur Tooth & Sons in 1960, following his inclusion in a number of British exhibitions during the later 1950s.

From the late 1950s Jenkins increasingly developed the fluid pouring technique for which he became best known. Working first in oil and later in acrylic, he allowed diluted pigment to flow across the surface, manipulating the canvas and using tools to direct the movement of colour. The resulting paintings balance spontaneity with control, creating luminous areas of colour that appear to open, overlap and dissolve into one another. His mature works were frequently given titles beginning with the word Phenomena, followed by poetic or associative phrases that suggest a response to the completed image rather than a literal subject.

Jenkins maintained close links with both European and American avant-garde circles. In 1964 he accepted an invitation from Jiro Yoshihara to work with members of the Gutai group in Osaka, exchanging works with several of its artists. His connections with Gutai were later explored in the 2009 exhibition “Under Each Other’s Spell”: Gutai and New York at the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center.

Jenkins’s association with The Redfern Gallery extended over many years. His work had appeared at the gallery as early as 1965, in Lithographies de l’Atelier Mourlot. In 2003, The Redfern Gallery took over his representation from Gimpel Fils and thereafter presented exhibitions of his paintings and works on paper in London, as well as showing his work at international art fairs, including in the United States. Through this sustained relationship, the gallery placed Jenkins’s work with collectors in Britain and internationally, including in the United States, Canada, Singapore, France, Belgium and Italy.

Major retrospectives and solo museum exhibitions were held at the Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hanover, in 1964; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and San Francisco Museum of Art in 1971–72; Musée Picasso, Antibes, in 1987; the Musées de Nice in 1989; the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille, in 2005; and the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, in 2010.

Jenkins’s work is held in major public collections internationally, including Tate, the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, as well as numerous museums in Europe and the United States.