JENKINS,Paul

Paul Jenkins
American 1923-
Paul Jenkins was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on 12 July 1923. Between 1937 and 1942 Jenkins studied at the Kansas City Art Institute, where he experimented with ceramics.After serving in the US army from 1943 until 1945, Jenkins resumed his art studies, this time at the Art Students League in New York. He absorbed the influences from artists such as Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Barnett Newman, and immersed himself in Gurdjieff's esoteric and occult philosophy that was so popular with artists and intellectuals at the time. In 1951 Jenkins painted his first picture with dripping dilute paint. Jenkins went to Europe in 1951, spending quite some time in Italy, Spain and Paris. New impressions, especially the use of a vibrant palette, are reflected in the work Jenkins did then, which, as drip and splash paintings, represented Action painting. Although he retained his Paris studio, Jenkins returned to America in 1955 and began to show work at exhibitions. In the mid-1960s Jenkins spent some time in Japan, India and even Russia. An ongoing interest in Eastern religions and philosophy, the study of the I Ching, along with the writings of Carl Jung prompted Jenkins' turn toward inward reflection and mysticism which have dominated his aesthetic as well as his life.

'Seeing Voice Welsh Heart' illustrated with LITHOGRAPHS by Paul Jenkins.