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Paul Jenkins Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

American, 1923-2012

Born in Kansas City, the multimedia artist, poet and playwright Paul Jenkins began his studies at Kansas City Art Institute and the Art Students League in New York City. After his discharge from military service at the end of February 1946, he briefly studied playwriting with dramatist George McCalmon at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh. Thereafter, Jenkins spent four years studying with Japanese-American artist Yasuo Kuniyoshi in New York City. His first solo exhibitions were held at Studio Paul Facchetti in Paris in 1954 and the Martha Graham Gallery in New York City in 1956. Over the past 30 years, numerous retrospectives have been curated across the globe and Jenkins’s work can be found in national collections from Europe and the United States to Israel, Australia and Japan. 

The diversity of Jenkins’s work springs from a wealth of eclectic influences. Some of his earliest works included what he called "interior landscapes” influenced by ancient natural forms. Frequent student visits to the Frick Collection in New York fostered a love of the great masters, while trips to the renowned Eastern collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City evoked powerful responses to a monumental Chinese fresco of Buddha, polychrome sculptures of the enlightened Bodhisattva, the Buddhist goddess of mercy Kuan-Yin, Indian bronzes of Hindu god Shiva and statues of meditative Buddhist lohans. Serving in the US Naval Air Corps during the Second World War, Jenkins painted watercolours of Japanese Kabuki dancers and read the ancient Chinese poetic teachings of the I Ching and Lao Tse Tung’s Tao Te Ching, described by him as "masterpieces in simplicity.” Jenkins’s discovery of psychoanalyst Carl Jung’s book Psychology and Alchemy was as illuminating for his practice as were formative meetings with dancer Martha Graham, architect Frank Lloyd Wright and Abstract Expressionist painters Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Barnett Newman. 

Concerned with colour and texture, nearness and distance as well as reality and mysticism, Jenkins’s work — considered to be part of the second wave of Abstract Expressionism — is a spiritual meditation on the nature of chance, balance, synchronicity, change and transformation. His ejection from an early art class in Kansas City for eating the still life appears instructive: "For me the pear is to be eaten and experienced, not painted.” Jenkins sought to reject the traditional Neo-Platonic approach to art as well as life in favour of a Taoist concern for the “present moment.” In this sense his paintings become spiritual reflections on the transitory present, life merely a rippled dance upon the water’s surface. Jenkins’s death in 2012 and the subsequent release of important works onto the market by his estate increased global interest in his work and they have grown in value and popularity. Jenkins’s works can be found in public and private collections worldwide.

(Biography provided by Stern Pissarro Gallery)

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Artist: Paul Jenkins
Untitled
By Paul Jenkins
Located in Palo Alto, CA
Paul Jenkins Untitled, 1971 conveys a strong sense of movement through a bold central composition dominated by shades of yellow, purple and black...
Category

1970s Abstract Expressionist Paul Jenkins Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Stripes
By Paul Jenkins
Located in New York, NY
Stripes by Paul Jenkins (1923-2012) Watercolor on paper 42 x 30 ¼ inches unframed (106.68 x 76.835 cm) 47 ½ x 35 ½ inches framed (120.65 x 90.17 cm) Inscribed (Jenkins) on bottom cen...
Category

Late 20th Century Abstract Expressionist Paul Jenkins Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

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Untitled
By Paul Jenkins
Located in Palm Desert, CA
A painting by Paul Jenkins. "Untitled" is an abstract, watercolor and ink on paper executed in a lush primarily palette with black ink printed images in the foreground by contemporar...
Category

1970s Contemporary Paul Jenkins Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Watercolor

PHENOMENA GRID THREE
By Paul Jenkins
Located in Aventura, FL
Original watercolor on paper. Hand signed on front; signed, titled and dated on verso by the artist. Additional images are available upon request. Certificate of Authenticity is inc...
Category

1970s Abstract Paul Jenkins Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Paper

PASAGE
By Paul Jenkins
Located in Aventura, FL
Original watercolor on paper. Hand signed on front by the artist. Additional images are available upon request. Certificate of Authenticity is included. Please do not hesitate to as...
Category

Late 20th Century Abstract Paul Jenkins Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Phenomena White Front Center
By Paul Jenkins
Located in New York, NY
1990 Watercolor on paper 8 x 12 in. (20.3 x 30.5 cm) Signed in ink, lower right
Category

1990s Color-Field Paul Jenkins Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

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Phenomena Welcome Guest
By Paul Jenkins
Located in New York, NY
1973 Watercolor on paper 30 x 22 in. (76.2 x 55.9 cm) Signed in ink, lower right
Category

1970s Color-Field Paul Jenkins Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Phenomena Magic Antler
By Paul Jenkins
Located in New York, NY
1973 Watercolor on paper 22 x 30 in. (55.9 x 76.2 cm) Signed in ink, lower center
Category

1970s Color-Field Paul Jenkins Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

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Paul Jenkins abstract drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Paul Jenkins abstract drawings and watercolors available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Paul Jenkins in paint, watercolor, paper and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the abstract style. Not every interior allows for large Paul Jenkins abstract drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 11 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Wolf Kahn, Mark di Suvero, and Burgoyne Diller. Paul Jenkins abstract drawings and watercolors prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $17,500 and tops out at $30,500, while the average work can sell for $21,750.

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