Paul Jenkins (b. 1923, Kansas City, MO; d. 2012, New York, NY) was an American painter best known for his vibrant, flowing color paintings that explore light, movement, and the deeper forces of both the natural world and spiritual realm. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, the artist developed an early fascination with the Nelson Gallery’s collection of Asian art, which nurtured an enduring affinity for East Asian aesthetics. This influence would shape his work throughout his life.
After serving in World War II, Jenkins moved to New York City in 1948 to study at the Art Students League under the G.I. Bill. There, he studied with Yasuo Kuniyoshi, a Japanese-American painter who deepened Jenkins’s appreciation for East Asian philosophy and visual traditions. In his early work, Jenkins used inks and watercolor. In the spirit of traditional Asian painting, his aim was not to depict the visible world, but to distill its essence.
By 1953, Jenkins had relocated to Paris, where he lived for much of the decade before eventually splitting his time between Paris and New York in the 1960s. He felt that traditional painting techniques were unable to express the spiritual and emotional experiences he was interested in capturing so he developed his own unique style: soft, transparent waves of color that seem to float across the canvas. He titled many of his works Phenomenon—a reference to the fleeting nature of perception and memory.
Although his paintings are flat, they often seem three-dimensional because of the dynamic ways in which the colors interact and flow. Jenkins was inspired by the techniques of ceramic glazing, which he studied as a young man, and his painting process reflects a deep understanding of how liquid materials and colored pigments behave.
In 1957, Jenkins encountered the avant-garde Japanese Gutai group at Galerie Stadler in Paris, and in 1964, he accepted an invitation to work with them in Osaka which deepened his lifelong connection to Asian art, literature, and philosophy. That same year, Paul Jenkins married artist Alice Baber. Though their marriage was short lived, the pair influenced one another’s creative approaches. United by a passion for travel and art collecting, they shared a deep fascination with exploring light and color.
By the 1960s, Jenkins had refined his signature technique. He would prepare his canvas with a white base to enhance the luminosity of the overlaid colors, then pour thin layers of acrylic paint mixed with thinner onto the surface. Using an ivory knife or brush, he guided the paint without forcing its movement, letting it move freely across the canvas. His process was intuitive and organic, and the result is glowing, layered compositions that evoke natural elements like smoke, wind, tides, or wings in flight. Jenkins’s paintings invite viewers to slow down, reflect, and feel connected to the rhythms of the world around them. Each piece is like a meditation, offering a glimpse into the nature of existence.