July 12, 1923 – June 9, 2012

​

Paul Jenkins was a prominent American Abstract Expressionist famous for lyrical abstraction.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, his works are in many museums, including the Corcoran Gallery, MOMA, the Smithsonian, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney, the Gugenheim and the Tate, among others.

A young contemporary of Pollock, Rothko and de Kooning, biographers of Jenkins frequently note that Jenkins was advised by Frank Lloyd Wright to pursue a career in agriculture rather than art. Lucky for us, he disregarded this guidance.

Intensely intellectual, Jenkins’ paintings were influenced by the writings of Goethe, Kant, and Jung, and he often prefaced the titles of his works with “Phenomena”.

Jenkins is famous for his work with flowing paints and pigments applied in streams of various thicknesses, with white overlays. Many of his hues are vivid. Some of his paintings suggest partial bas reliefs while others are two dimensional.

Jenkins also created sculptures in glass, bronze and steel; he cast the bronze “Four Corners” at Shidoni’s foundry and also built his “Meditation Mandala” steel sculpture at Shidoni. 

​