PAUL JENKINS
IMMANENT COLOUR Works on Paper from the 1990s in Watercolour and Ink
PAUL JENKINS
IMMANENT COLOUR Works on Paper from the 1990s in Watercolour and Ink
14 April – 12 May 2 021
20 Cork Street, London W1S 3HL +44 (0)20 7734 1732 redfern-gallery.com
Self Portrait, 1984. Ink on paper, 33 × 48.3 cm, 13 × 10 ins sight.
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Paul Jenkins: Immanent Colour, Works on Paper from the 1990s in Watercolour and Ink, confirms the artist’s place as one of the modern masters of the watercolour medium. Jenkins made watercolours throughout his life. His works are in museums internationally and throughout the UK, including a watercolour in the Victoria & Albert Museum. “Watercolour is not elusive,” Jenkins wrote. “It is the architecture beneath the sea that cries to be left out, to be discovered. And when it rings right, it sounds very much like a bell tolling deeply in the sea from some strange sunken chapel.” This exhibition explores the artist’s unique relationship with watercolour looking specifically at his late works from the 1990s. Isabelle Dervaux, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Drawings at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City observed that Jenkins’ watercolours exemplify the paradox of an art form that can be so spontaneous and yet be so demanding and require so much control on the part of the artist. “To me there is nothing left to chance in watercolour,” Jenkins wrote.
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Reflections on the watercolours of Paul Jenkins Paul Jenkins has over the years repeatedly turned to working in watercolor, whether in search of fresh, creative discoveries, or to enlarge upon possibilities already encountered in other mediums. He first tried his hand at painting in watercolor while yet a child, for it is a technique that invites the beginner. Only later, as his studies at the Kansas City Art Institute progressed, did he perceive the inherent challenges of watercolor, which asserts demands all its own. Eventually, Jenkins formulated a metaphoric explanation of his experience of working in watercolor, which he likens to the firing of a ceramic kiln, wherein the potter’s glaze is mysteriously transformed from its original, plain appearance into something different and far more beautiful. He had also come to realize, moreover, that it was his will as an artist to function as the fire itself, so to speak, in effecting that metamorphosis. Throughout his mature practice, Jenkins has recurrently investigated those intuitions about the elusive watercolor medium, first awakened in his early efforts as a young, aspiring artist. In his practice of watercolor painting, Jenkins has engaged himself with one of the most ancient and versatile of all artistic mediums. In one or another form of application, it has served as a mainstay for painters of virtually all cultural traditions worldwide. Often it has remained the predominant technique. Such has been the case, for example, in East Asia. With its cognate medium of ink and wash, its use continues, in effect, to define the prevailing aesthetic standards of painting throughout that vast region. The modern European and American traditions within which Jenkins has evolved as an artist present a distinctly different and in some respects more complicated situation. A few pertinent factors
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relating to those differences require brief comment at this point. Over the centuries, several rival techniques of painting evolved in the ancient centers of the Mediterranean world and subsequently, in Western Europe. They present complicated patterns of technological development and, in consequence, of aesthetic preferences as well. If, to be sure, the fresco and tempera techniques that gained popularity in some parts were themselves aqueous mediums of a kind, hence arguably part of the same family as what we now call watercolor and gouache, the techniques of working in mosaic and oil paint, which also became important, stand firmly apart, even though regional and temporal interactions of style amongst all those available techniques are often to be observed. Particularly as the new resources of painting in oil came into ever greater favor amongst European artists and their patrons, watercolor was for the most part comparatively reduced to the status of a preparatory or study medium, much like the various forms of drawing. Despite the skills lavished on collateral studies of the kind by such major artists as Albrecht Dürer, for example, works of art in those time-honored, alternative mediums were only gradually and somewhat grudgingly elevated to their present esteem. Fortunately, in modern times, watercolors and drawings are properly valued as self-sufficient and precious in their own right. More central to the immediate topic of Jenkins’ own contribution as a watercolorist, however, is the fact that he has characteristically nourished his creative undertakings by drawing from a wide range of the modern, cosmopolitan traditions which span both sides of the North Atlantic. On one hand, he remains keenly aware of his origins as an artist born and raised in the United States. At the same time, he has remained profoundly involved with avant-garde developments in Europe, especially those in France, where he has lived and worked for long periods. Nor have other cultures and currents eluded his
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attention, most of all those to be observed in East Asia, particularly in Japan, where Jenkins enjoys a high level of recognition, as a mere glance at the chronology of his professional involvements attests. For all his multicultural involvements, however, Jenkins’ identity remains that of an American artist intimately linked with the avantgarde climate of Western Europe. In 1945, upon his release from Naval Service during World War II, Jenkins pursued his painting. At the same time, he followed his longstanding interest in playwriting by taking courses as a special student at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh, and over the years, he has retained a strong enthusiasm for the theater. But in 1948, he decided to concentrate his even more pressing urge to become a painter, so he made his way to New York City, where, on the advice of Clarence Carter, he enrolled at the Art Students League. Known for its liberally permissive atmosphere as a teaching institution, the “League” boasted a distinguished faculty. Among them, Jenkins found Yasuo Kuniyoshi the most temperamentally compatible of all, and he continues to look back upon his association with that mentor with deep respect and affection. Jenkins’ days as a student in New York City coincided with the long simmering avant-garde ferment that came to a head in the years just a after the end of World War II. Quite naturally, he became acquainted with many of the prime movers of that prodigious surge of activity in all the arts - one destined to transform aims and expectations for decades to come. While the artistic community of the city still remained comparatively concentrated in its activities, it was a challenge in itself to find one’s way into those interlocking circles. Somewhat younger than the most acknowledged leaders of that now legendary company - names like Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline and Mark Rothko here come to mind - Jenkins chose to steer an independent course, preferring to search out his own, personal path. In 1953, Jenkins decided to expand his horizons by visiting Paris, which was rapidly reclaiming its international pre eminence as a cultural
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magnet in those post-war years, thanks in large part to the lively presence of the Existentialists. Like other American artists and intellectuals of his generation, Jenkins was drawn to the cafés and bistros bordering on Saint-Germain-des-Prés, where he could share in the vitality of that quarter. There, in the company of new friends, he experienced an atmosphere quite different from what he had encountered in New York, yet no less vital to his quest for personal synthesis. Over the years to come he would, in effect, straddle the Atlantic, in his sense of simultaneous allegiance to both American and French traditions sometimes to the discomfort of those who were differently disposed. In his explorations of the rich historical and artistic resources of Paris, he soon discovered the private museum of the reclusive nineteenthcentury master, Gustave Moreau, situated unobtrusively on the rue de la Rochefoucauld, not far from the Gare Saint-Lazare. Jenkins was particularly engrossed by Moreau’s ébauches done in oil to be seen at the museum, which revealed definition of forms and vibrancy of color. He came to appreciate deeply Moreau’s distinctive sensibilities as a colorist. During his brief tenure as a professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, it was Moreau who passed on to his pupils (who included such future luminaries as Henri Matisse, Georges Rouault and Albert Marquet), a lesson they all took to heart: color must be “pensée, rêvée, imaginée.” In 196l, Moreau’s remarkable but long obscure legacy was first disclosed to a wider modern public in exhibitions staged at the Louvre and at the Museum of Modern Art. Jenkins published a thoughtful tribute to Moreau in Art News, at the time of the New York showing of his works. It bore the title, “Gustave Moreau: Moot Grandfather of Abstraction.” That landmark exhibition of Moreau’s contribution to his nation’s heritage also featured selections of works by Moreau’s spiritual inheritor, Odilon Redon, and their gifted contemporary, Rodolphe Bresdin. Although Jenkins was naturally impressed by the latter’s virtuosity as a printmaker and the richness of his imagery, it was by Bresdin’s friend and protegé Redon that he was more profoundly affected. Jenkins was fascinated by Redon’s visionary subjects of his later years, with their special quality of
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iridescence, one born of a glinting densely of light reflected from his layered levels of pastel pigment. He considers La Coquille to be exemplary of Redon’s genius in this regard. A third major discovery of that formative era in Paris was the art of the German-born French painter Wols (Wolfgang Schülze). Newly returned to Paris after the war, Wols had before his premature death in 1953, produced a body of works in oil, watercolor, and gouache, which were remarkable in their degree and character of abstraction. As with the presence in Paris of other avant-garde protagonists, Jenkins found kindred spirits in his departures from his own past efforts and expectations. Jenkins’ spirit of inquiry was not, however, restricted to the expansion of his notions of painting alone. As one who remained devoted to the theater, he did not fail to be nourished by the lively theatrical and cinematic scene of the time, with its many experimental ventures. Not least of all, one must recall the magical presence of Jean-Louis Barrault. Jenkins had seen Children of Paradise (1944) in New York. With Martha Graham, Barrault immediately came to epitomize for the young artist the glories of bodily movement and their mysteries. In addition, there were literary and philosophical stimuli that leaped boundaries of time and place. Given to philosophical speculation as he was, Jenkins was guided in his search for creative directions as much by insights sparked by reading Jung or Zen precepts that had begun to attract his attention at an early stage, as by current trends in art and critical opinion. Those involvements of student days only grew in conviction as the young man gained personal and professional maturity whether in Paris or in New York. Eventually, that process of clarification attained a definable stage in 1959, when Eyes of the Dove was undertaken. Eyes of the Dove comprised a series of some forty paintings done in response to a story told to Jenkins by Harold Rosenberg. It concerned a rabbi who at every step would incant, “the eyes of the dove,” step forward, and go into a state of revelation. Jenkins’ supposition that “the eyes of the dove see everything but never the same thing twice,” reminded him of
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Heraclitus’ dictum that you never step into the same water twice. His eventual interest in the “world of phenomena,” or ever changing reality was thus portended. That enterprise marked a significant turn in Jenkins’ formal direction, wherein his use of the white ground of the canvas took on new meaning. Later that year, during a trip to Porto della Selve on the Costa del Sol, he became intensively involved with working in watercolor. Stimulated by recent readings in the metaphysical proposals of Kant and Goethe, with their distinctions between sensory perceptions and an unknowable, ultimate Reality, he began to feel that he was approaching similar boundaries in his own, strictly visual involvements. There in Spain, working outdoors in the dazzling Mediterranean light, Jenkins found in the brilliant tones of the watercolors he was producing a special vibrance that served as a clue to the meaning of the conceptual problems he had been pondering. Once more, his involvement with watercolor had served a vital purpose of discovery. From that crucial juncture in Jenkins’ conceptual and technical evolution, the course of his work had assumed an essential character which has persisted throughout many subsequent variations. For example, the painter’s more recent series, as his tenaciously pursued elaborations upon the theme of prismatic light and color, branch from the same core of insights. More than ever before, Goethe’s remarkable speculations about color theory, with their ingenious intention to accommodate human processes of perception and cognition with abstract, physical laws provided Jenkins an invaluable source of inspiration for his own efforts. Goethe’s efforts to refute Newton were not accepted by scientists because Goethe lacked an absolute mathematical formulation, as Newton proposed. Goethe was, of course, doing something else, and in the process brought to bear physiological and psychological evidence that Newton had ignored. But these matters are perhaps better considered with regard to some of the specific works on view in the present exhibition. In May of 1987, Jenkins enjoyed the rare honor of seeing his multifaceted interests in form and color assume a new material aspect on the vast stage of the Salle Favart of the
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Opéra Comique in Paris. On that occasion, a series of six performances of a dance-drama, Shaman to the Prism Seen, conceived by Jenkins and staged in collaboration with Simone Benmussa was presented to the accompaniment of two musical compositions by Henri Dutilleux: Métaboles and Timbres, Espace, Mouvements. It was a gigantic effort employing all of the technical facilities of the atelier Berthier and its gifted artisans. The décor, however, consisting of vast works on canvas, as well as the silks and costumes, was painted entirely by Jenkins himself. This remarkable fact is contrary to the usual procedure where the stage sets and costumes are executed from colored studies or sketches by the artist. In this respect, Jenkins’ sets and costumes are in the fullest sense original works. That gala event celebrating his longstanding contribution to the French cultural scene was part of a special program initiated by Jean-Louis Martinoty on behalf of the Théâtre Nationale de l’Opéra de Paris. Jenkins’ contribution to that imaginative enterprise, auspiciously titled, “Painters at the Opera: Carte blanche to Paul Jenkins,” was the dance-drama, Prism to the Shaman Seen. That unusual commission was from the first recognized by Jenkins as an opportunity to give voice to his love of the theater and music, as well as his lifetime service to his primary art of painting. The complex scenario he evolved for the dancers was designed to embody his fundamental involvement with what has been called his “lyrical abstraction” in painting, at the heart of which color and form are fused into a fixed world of reflected light, wherein all traces of movement have been frozen in time. Given the fresh challenge of employing the temporal arts of music and dance as vehicles to expand upon his experiences as a painter understandably attracted him to explore the new artistic possibilities that had been offered him. He rose nobly to that occasion. Aside from the photographic record which documents those performances at the Salle Favart and the demanding practical preparations for them, a series of fine watercolor paintings more intimately recall that ambitious venture and its evolution. A representative selection of those small gems is included in a separate exhibition.
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Jenkins’ text for the stage production at the Salle Favart was first written in 1985, while he was working in Saint-Paulde-Vence. Inspired by his virtual reverence for Martha Graham and Jean-Louis Barrault, he devised a new way to express his feelings about his personal search for self-realization. He had come to recognize in the concept of a Shaman figure analogies with the artist’s role, as he or she is at once Creator and Witness in the artistic process. In the text, the colors at the pointer’s disposal come like mineral substances from their deep sleep in the earth. It is thus the artist’s destiny to summon them into his own world of light, so they may be awakened to their inherent powers by the Prism, and in due course, be transformed. The essence of Jenkins’ message lies in the complicated unfolding of that process, one not unlike the struggles of a chrysalis fated to fulfill its predestined potentialities at whatever cost of inner anguish. Given the highly abstract and symbolic nature of the allegorical dance-drama Jenkins conceived for his “Carte blanche,” it is difficult to propose a satisfactory précis of its content - the more so for its employment of the mediums of dance and music, which are ineluctable in their own ways. Briefly put, the action throughout centers on six personifications: a commanding male figure identified as Shaman, and five dancers who represent spectral Colors. Two of them (Red and Violet) are male. Their three companions (Blue, Yellow and Green) are female. Shaman has been conceived as a controlling stage presence, generally neutral in tone. Shaman is the central agent of the plot, which reveals his endeavors to assert authority over the Colors, whom he himself has at the beginning summoned from the primordial darkness that reigns as the curtain first rises. As the stage action unfolds, the Colors all behave in their individual ways, sometimes harmoniously, but at other times in conflict with each other or even on occasion, with Shaman himself, as he struggles for dominion over the willful partners he has quickened into life. In Part One, frenzied rituals of Transformation and of Self-Realization are performed, for the Colors have beheld their own images in the Prism’s mirror and have thus been awakened to hitherto unrecognized inner urges. Once their ceremonial roles are played out, all the
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participants, including Shaman himself, fall into an exhausted sleep, and darkness returns. As the light reclaims the stage at the beginning of Part Two, Shaman reappears as bound and powerless, while the Colors behave independently as they enact their parts in various configurations before the Prism. But Shaman eventually regains control of his domain, before darkness descends once more, to conclude the colorful rites that have been enacted on the stage. In a sense, the watercolors for the Paris Opera project included in the present exhibition all qualify as “sketches” for one or another aspect of that presentation. To employ distinctions that have come into use with reference to academic practice, they were done as part of an exploratory, conceptual process, and not as studies from nature, or études or as “models,” intended to serve as practical guides for eventual enlargement into some further, finished state. Nor were they intended to record the final look of the whole or any of its parts. In other words, they served entirely as instruments of creative reflection, critical to the genesis of Jenkins’ visual whole. Hence they were painted by the artist in the spirit of exploration, while the end result was still malleable and subject to further clarification. In the purest sense of that expression, they are therefore pensées - if not necessarily, pensées premières - whether they refer to the scenography and stage effects, or to the artist’s intentions for qualities of costume design or choreographic action. With this in mind, we can proceed to consider some representative examples from the current exhibition, as they illuminate the evolution of Shaman to the Prism Seen. It would serve no purpose to attempt to align the individual work accompanying Shaman to the Prism Seen with the narrative development of the performance as it unfolds, for their essence has little if anything to do with such matters. Rather their collective function would seem to be that of emitting a kind of scintillation flashing signals that taken together transmit an impression of the whole of which they are a part, without depriving them of their individual character and energy. This may be seen in the watercolor Shaman Prism Mantle, with its grand sweep that suggests an entire
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stage and the action that may take place on it, without indication of any particulars aside from on unmistakable suggestion of Shaman’s commanding omnipresence. Any such sense of his generative force may, however, assume other quite different visual guises. In Shaman Dais, for example, the pool of white light at the center implies the potential richness of the complete arc of colors it contains. The veil of sky hovers above, and the earth is resistently closed below. On the other hand, Entreat the Spell, which is no more figurative, nevertheless projects something of Shaman’s turbulent avatar, but without the weighty, gravitational implications of the dais. Although Jenkins’ work is generally free from overt derivations from the natural world, I find a number of tantalizing hints of anthropomorphic form in that group of watercolors and not unreasonably, in view of their purpose. From Around is a vivid case in point. So also are Sun Worshipper and Creature of Blue, with their powerfully gestural dynamism. Of course, even the choice of titles for those pieces strongly implies allegorical intentions. In this specific context it should be pointed out, furthermore, that there is after all, a sense in which even the most non representational of Jenkins’ works protects at its core some essential link with natural reality, however radical his transformation of that ultimate source of his inspiration may be. Hence, one may reasonably go on to perceive powerfully gestural suggestions in the color-chordal groupings in For the Shaman Knows or Group of Five, both of which surely allude to the dancers without describing either them or their actions in any literal sense. Even in The Shadow Knows Shaman, which is far more remote from anatomical configuration, there is a powerful occult presence, so to speak. In that sense, this evocative image functions as a revealing opposite to what must have been the overwhelming impact of Cyril Atanassoff’s initial appearance on the stage as the heroic, cloaked figure of Shaman, as recalled in a photograph of an actual performance in May 1987.
At the risk of overextending anthropomorphic associations, one might on occasion also detect what might be called “behavioral” signs in the otherwise wholly abstract configurations of pieces like White
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of Yellow, with its sparkling linkage of the two predominantly blue fields to either side. In Yellow Coming Through, the hue itself seems to will its penetration of the intervening neutral veils from which it emerges. Or in Message Received Mirror Seen, it is as though the closed, white configuration at the center has signaled to the colors that define its very presence. But the positive-negative relationship has been reversed in the throbbing blast of Shaman’s Incantation. While admittedly descriptive conceits of the kind must be treated with due caution, they have nevertheless been accorded some sanction in modern color theory. After all, Kandinsky himself attempted in some degree to personify the “spiritual” nature of colors and their behavior. Jenkins is keenly aware of those lines of speculation that go back to the observations of Goethe and other pioneer theorists. And along the way, he has developed a subtle personal sense of what might be called the inherent predispositions of the various pigments he employs - sometimes, it seems, contrary to their own predispositions. Indeed, is that not the central message of Shaman’s predicament? As we have seen, Jenkins’ involvement with his theme of the “Broken Prism” had evolved to an ideal point for him to respond so fruitfully as Jean-Louis Martinoty’s invitation for him to conceive a stage production for the Salle Favart. There are signs that he was coincidentally working along related paths before the project for the Opera had actually materialized. In some respects, the kernel of the entire enterprise is encapsulated in the watercolor, Emergence of Shaman’s Light Side, with its arc of glorious color cost off from a dense core of white that burns at its source. At another, more literary level, it is well known that Jenkins has frequently turned to literary forms of self-expression. Clearly, he identifies intimately with Shaman, who is at heart The Artist personified, if not precisely his own alter ego. Under the circumstances, it is not surprising that Jenkins has employed Shaman as the protagonist in a more recent closely related tale, Shaman to the Prism Moon. In that narrative, which will be published, the same troupe of radiant Colors reappear, as they test their own powers and
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their mentor’s will in the fresh company of two youthful witnesses. In 1988, Jenkins become involved with another large-scale undertaking when he was invited to visit China in order to create a set of silk banners to be displayed on the Great Wall of China and silk backdrops for the entire stage of the Great Hall of the People. He evolved his own techniques of hand-dyeing fine silks for the banners in preparing the costumes for the Paris Opera performances, but he did the actual work on those for China in an atelier provided for that purpose in Beijing. The three watercolors of Peking Prism, which form a kind of triptych, recall that enterprise in the present exhibition. The upright emphasis in the aligned vertical elements in the side panels strongly alludes to the processional function of the Chinese banner. That motif is reiterated at the sides of the middle panel, as the meeting of the focal elements at the very center is, so to speak, witnessed and commemorated. Another project with architectural associations, but one that remains to be realized, however, is a set of works for stained glass windows for installation in a structure designed by Yves Bayard. Jenkins conceived it to be a place for contemplation or, as he puts it, a “Meditation Tower.” Five watercolors on view represent the artist’s intentions for the soaring windows, which would expand as they grow upward, in reverse of the protective, enclosing walls of the tall, conical supports. If ever realized, the ecumenical shrine (if it may be called that) would comprise an exhilarating space where the visitor could be at once free from outside distractions and drawn upward in a kind of spiritual release. Meditation Mandala Sundial, a project for a sculptural park imagined in the mid-seventies by Jenkins, is in direct relationship in intention to such a gathering place where meditation, both active and passive, spiritual and intellectual, can take place. “A place where the spirit can walk,” as Jenkins phrases it, within an 8-pointed star that emanates outward from its center to infinity and from infinity back to its finite central point. It is interesting that Jenkins should come to this kind of architectural interest at this mature stage of his life. His present atelier in Saint-Paul-de-Vence is, after all, situated not far from the Matisse
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Chapel in Vence, which Jenkins warmly admires. Beyond that, however, one might well recall the great visionary architects of the eighteenth century, Etienne-Louis Boullée and Claude-Nicolas Ledoux, whose grandiose projects - most of all, perhaps, those that were never constructed - left an enduring mark upon the history of architecture. A set of five very recent watercolors, all of truly mural scale, complete and in some ways climax the ensemble presented in the exhibition. Here Jenkins has tested the limits of a medium which has customarily been employed for works of far more modest size. In doing so he has, once again, benefited from his familiarity with the art of East Asia, where alone paper has traditionally been so expansively utilized for the painter’s art. In these monumental applications of the watercolorist’s special skills, analogies may well be recognized with the calligraphic traditions of Japan perhaps most of all, with the boldness and freedom they invite the artist to display. These compositions evince much more sense of the brush than is usually the case with the special kind of fluidity Jenkins has cultivated in his use of the acrylics. Among other factors, his recent involvement with the dyeing of silks is also to be inferred in the results he has achieved in these powerful compositions. Still, there should be no talk here of mere derivations, for Jenkins’ hand and eye are commandingly present in these pieces. They belong intimately to the same family as his paintings in other mediums or his watercolors of smaller size. In brief, they are ineradicably descended above all from their maker’s roots in his own heritage from the modern period in the West, however amiably they live beside their distant friends from beyond the boundaries of the Occident. The aforementioned calligraphic traits are perhaps more evident in two of the largest pieces, Phenomena Draw the Curtain and Phenomena States of Trance. In the former, a boldly calligraphic element dominates the white field at the center of the composition, while other, less concentrated figures expand within the opposing “curtains” of red and yellow to either side. In Phenomena States of Trance, two central motifs are opposed by more vaguely defined foils to the sides. By contrast, Phenomena Shadow Light Sundial rockets off to the upper right
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corner; a blue-green and yellow configuration assumes a dominant role in bringing the upward movement to a climactic focus. Jenkins’ experience in making use of the medium at this challenging scale is evident in his two further pieces in this series, Phenomena the Still Center and Phenomena Continental Shelf, both of which are denser if in no sense more static. Of the two, Phenomena Continental Shelf is, however, decidedly the more fixed in its enframement, as it confines the turbulence of the middle field within its permeated boundaries. Phenomena the Still Center is arguably the most masterly of all, for it may well stand as a synthesis of the many forces at work in Jenkins’ remarkable contribution to the history of watercolor as a major medium in modern art.
Frank Anderson Trapp, January - February 1994 © Imago Terrae 1994
©ESTATE OF PAUL JENKINS 2021
Frank Anderson Trapp: Reflections on the Watercolors of Paul Jenkins Published by PACA in Water and Color/L’Eau et la Couleur, 1994. ©Estate of Paul JENKINS
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W O R K S O N PA P E R f r o m t h e 1 9 9 0 s i n Wa t e r c o l o u r a n d I n k
P h e n o m e n a B i g S u r Ta k e 1 9 9 4 watercolour on paper 31 × 41.25 ins 78.7 × 104.8 cm
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Phenomena Basalt Light 1994 watercolour on paper 43.25 × 31 ins 109.9 × 78.7 cm
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Phenomena China Winds 1996 watercolour on paper 43.25 × 31 ins 109.9 × 78.7 cm
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Phenomena Lost & Found 1995 watercolour on paper 31.125 × 43.375 ins 79.1 × 110.2 cm
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Phenomena Ultramarine Northwester 1995 watercolour on paper 31.125 × 43.375 ins 79.1 × 110.2 cm
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Phenomena Prism Inscape 1995 watercolour on paper 31 × 43.25 ins 78.7 × 109.9 cm
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P h e n o m e n a P h o e n i x Ta l i s m a n 1 9 9 5 watercolour on paper 43.375 × 31.125 ins 110.2 × 79.1 cm
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Phenomena Cross Over 1994 watercolour on paper 30 × 22.50 ins 76.2 × 57.2 cm
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Phenomena Given Stages 1996 watercolour on paper 30 × 22 ins 76.2 × 55.9 cm
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Phenomena Green is There 1994 watercolour on paper 29.50 × 22.50 ins 74.9 × 57.2 cm
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P h e n o m e n a C e d a r Va l l e y S c o p e 1 9 9 5 watercolour on paper 29.50 × 22.50 ins 74.9 × 57.2 cm
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Phenomena Black Lightening 1994 watercolour and acrylic on paper 29.825 × 22.50 ins 75.8 × 57.2 cm
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P h e n o m e n a 8 a . m . a n d A l l i s We l l 1 9 8 6 ink and acrylic on paper 43.25 × 31.125 ins 109.9 × 79.1 cm
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Phenomena Fox Chapel 1995 watercolour on paper 20.875 × 15.625 ins 53 × 39.7 cm
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Untitled 1994
Untitled 1994
ink on paper 23.125 × 11.50 ins 58.7 × 29.2 cm
ink on paper 23 × 11 ins 58.4 × 27.9 cm
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Untitled 1994 ink on paper 11.25 × 22.75 ins 28.6 × 57.8 cm
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Untitled 1994 ink on paper 23 × 11.75 ins 58.4 × 29.8 cm
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above
below
Untitled 1994
Untitled 1994
ink on paper 11.125 × 23.25 ins 28.3 × 59.1 cm
ink on paper 10.625 × 23 ins 27 × 58.4 cm
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Untitled 1994
Untitled 1994
ink on paper 22.875 × 11.50 ins 58.1 × 29.2 cm
ink on paper 23 × 11.50 ins 58.4 × 29.2 cm
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Untitled 1994 ink on paper 22.875 × 10.875 ins 58.1 × 27.6 cm
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1923 Born in Kansas City, Missouri. Early Years At the Kansas City Art Institute takes several courses and makes drawings from a model and paints watercolors he calls “interior landscapes” related to caves he visited in the Ozarks, rivers, campfires and other forms of nature. Is ejected from class for eating the still life. As Albert E. Elsen quotes the artist in his monograph: “For me the pear is to be eaten and experienced, not painted.” Works with the ceramist James Weldon, pouring clay slip into molds, applying glazes and creating clay sculptures of heads and figures that he then fires. The kiln reveals the transformation of color: the dry opaque glazes prior to the firing which then become subtly translucent or vitally defined in density. Frequent visits to the renowned Asian collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art [then the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery], where he is strongly affected by the monumental Chinese fresco of Buddha, the polychrome sculptures of the Bodhisattva, Kuan-Yin (11-12th century), Indian bronzes, especially Shiva and statues of lohans in meditation. In writing about this early time in his life, the artist states: “These Eastern attitudes fostered in me a sense of mystery about the universe that has drawn me all my life. Eastern art has inspired, nourished and helped me enter a state of mind where dualism seemed normal. Knowing that you are two instead of one allows you to see and perceive more than one thing at the same time.” [Anatomy of a Cloud, p 40] Meets Frank Lloyd Wright in 1940 when his great-uncle, the Reverend Burris Jenkins, pastor of the First Community Church in Kansas City, Missouri, commissioned Wright to rebuild his church after a fire destroyed the building on Linwood Boulevard. [This church is now called the Community Christian Church.] Frank Lloyd Wright advises the aspiring young artist to consider agriculture as a more solid pursuit to the vagaries of being an artist. On his great-uncle’s suggestion, visits with Thomas Hart Benton at his home to discuss his intention to be a painter. Thomas Hart Benton asks the artist to return when he was 21. By that time, Paul Jenkins was in the US Naval Air Corps during WWII and didn’t make the return visit. 1944-47 In 1944, from the United States Maritime Service enters the US Naval Air Corps. Paints watercolors of Kabuki actors and makes what the distinguished art historian Albert E. Elsen describes as “Durer-esque” black and white graphite drawings. Is drawn to the teachings of Lao Tse Tung in the Tao Te Ching which he describes in a December 5, 1945 letter as “masterpieces in simplicity.” He later donates in 1969 a Chinese dragon robe with Taoist symbols to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. After his discharge from military service at the end of February 1946, studies playwriting with George McCalmon at the Carnegie Institute of Technology [now Carnegie Mellon University] and continues to paint and draw on his own.
1948-52 Under the G.I. Bill, studies with Yasuo Kuniyoshi for four years at the Art Students League in New York where, in 1951, he meets Mark Rothko, with whom he remains friends. Kuniyoshi gives Jenkins free use of his studio in New York during the summers. [Yoshio Ozawa in his essay on Kuniyoshi works in the Fukutake Collection, 2013]. Frequent visits to the Frick Collection to see Goya, Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait, Turner, Georges de la Tour, Vermeer, Bellini, Holbein. In New York, paints Sea Escape, 1951, a key work on paper using “water as his means and meaning” [Albert E. Elsen in the monograph Paul Jenkins, published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 1973]. Invited by Martha Graham to observe her dance classes in 1951, he makes several drawings of her. Meets Jackson Pollock and Barnett Newman in New York. In reading P. D. Ouspensky’s In Search of the Miraculous, discovers the ideas of G. I. Gurdjieff. 1953 Travels to Italy where, during a stay of several months in Sicily, he works on canvas in Taormina. Travels to Spain where he is deeply moved by the Prado. Settles in Paris, meeting Jean Dubuffet in December at his exhibition of “Terres Radieuses” at the La Hune. Frequents Michel Tapié, Pierre Restany, Etienne Martin, Zoe Dusanne, Kenneth B. Sawyer, as well as other American artists living there at the time. Working flat and pouring paint on paper and primed canvas provides a greater sense of totality. The unique abstract ébauches in oil of Gustave Moreau reveal to him the structure and inherent luminosity of color. He later writes an article entitled “Gustave Moreau: Moot Grandfather of Abstraction,” published by Art News [vol. 60, no. 8 December 1961]. In the illuminated density radiating from the subject in the pastels of Odilon Redon, particularly in La Coquille [The Conch Shell], he sees a specific kind of emanating light existing only in the pastels. He did not find either the imagery of Moreau’s canvases or the phantasmagoria subject matter of Redon’s charcoals of interest for him. Discovers Hokusai’s Manga in Paris, Psychology and Alchemy by Carl Gustav Jung and the The I Ching: Book of Changes. 1954 The flatness of the reflected lights at night on the Seine assumes a compelling verticality which disrupts the intruding horizon line and moves forward in a frontal configuration, evoking a sensation of nearness. First solo exhibition: Studio Paul Facchetti in Paris, Édouard Jaguer writes the text, Lumière d’Ambre. In Paris, meets Martha Jackson; Peter, Charles and Jean Gimpel, and Mark Tobey. Works with Winsor Newton powdered pigments and chrysochrome, a viscous enamel paint. Group exhibition “Divergences” at the Galerie Arnaud in Paris. Visits the Henri Matisse chapel in Vence.
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1955 First solo exhibition in the United States at the Zoe Dusanne Gallery in Seattle. The Seattle Museum is the first museum to buy his work. Participates in group exhibitions at the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York; the Petit Palais, Galerie Jean Larcade and “Signes Autres” at the Galerie Rive Droite in Paris. Travels to London from Paris to see Mark Tobey’s exhibition at ICA [Institute of Contemporary Art]. Travels from Paris to New York in July of 1955 on the SS Liberté. In New York, comes to know Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Ad Reinhardt, and, with George Wittenborn, Robert Motherwell. During his year-long stay in New York, visits Mark Rothko’s studio on the West side, near what is now Lincoln Center. 1956 First solo exhibition in New York takes place at the Martha Jackson Gallery in March. John I. H. Baur buys Divining Rod for the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Observations of Michel Tapié is published by George Wittenborn in New York. Invited by Peter Cochrane to exhibit in a group show, The Exploration of Paint, at Arthur Tooth & Sons in London the following season. Visits Jackson Pollock’s studio in Springs and sees his recent paintings, as well as black and white drawings to be shown at the Gimpel Fils Gallery in London. On his return to the city, gives Pollock a copy of Herrigal’s Zen and the Art of Archery, presently in the library of the Pollock-Krasner House in Springs. Returns to Paris. After a visit to the Gimpels in Ménerbes in July, Lee Krasner stays at Jenkins’ studio in Paris where she later receives a call from Clement Greenberg informing her of Pollock’s fatal car accident on August 11. Arnold Newman makes the first of what became over several decades, a continuing series of photographs of the artist in Paris and in New York. Meets Henri Michaux at the Odilon Redon exhibition at the Orangerie in Paris. Group exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York; in Paris, with the Galerie Stadler, Galerie Rive Droite, Galerie Jean Larcade and in Sculpteurs et Peintres Abstraits Américains de Paris at the Galerie Arnaud. 1957 Peggy Guggenheim buys the canvas Osage from his studio in Paris, this work is soon included in his solo exhibition at the Galerie Stadler in Paris. Is aware of the Gutai Group in Osaka through Michel Tapié. Hideo Hayahasi and Mr. Yamamoto of the Tokyo Gallery visit his atelier, rue Decrès. Participates in group exhibitions at Arthur Tooth & Sons in London and at the Whitney Museum in New York. Exchanges studios with Joan Mitchell for two years; he works in her St. Mark’s Place studio in New York, and she works in his studio on the rue Decrès in Paris. Meets the writer, James Jones, and his wife, Gloria, in New York and they remain lifelong friends.
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1958 In late 1957, at the St. Mark’s Place studio in New York, begins the paintings entitled Eyes of the Dove, which continue into 1959. The title was inspired by a story told to the artist by Harold Rosenberg concerning a rabbi who intoned “the eyes of the dove” on his visits to various synagogues. To the artist, the story held the meaning that “the eyes of the dove see everything but never the same thing twice.” At the Gutai exhibition at the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York, is invited by Jiro Yoshihara to work with the Gutai in Osaka, an invitation that he does not implement until 1964. Joseph Hirshhorn buys Dakota Ridge from his exhibition at the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York. Participates in exhibitions at Arthur Tooth & Sons, London, the Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. 1959-1960 In Paris, James Jones is of the first to buy a painting from the Eyes of the Dove series: Turtle Gold. Works with dry pigments mixed with acri-medium, and in oil. Studies the writing of Kant and Goethe. Uses an ivory knife to guide the flow of paint. Influenced by Goethe’s color theories and drawing on his study of Immanuel Kant, begins to title his canvases Phenomena, followed by a key phrase or word. Harkening back to the artist’s statement about Asian art, Albert E. Elsen quotes the artist regarding his choice of the plural of phenomena: “We see one thing, but are never one. We are many things, but gravitate toward the single point. It is an acknowledgment of the variables which make the plural [of Phenomenon] ever present.” [Elsen, p 22] Travels to Spain, meets the poet and critic, Juan-Eduardo Cirlot in Barcelona, who later writes about Jenkins’ work. Obtains a cold-water flat in New York on 12th Street between Avenues A and B. Begins gradually to work in acrylic. 1961 First exhibition at the Galerie Karl Flinker in Paris; James Jones writes the catalogue text, “Moving Shapes without Name.” The exhibition continues the evolution of the image against a white ground and evidences the recent development of monochrome paintings. The Paintings of Paul Jenkins is published by Éditions Two Cities in Paris with texts by Kenneth B. Sawyer, Pierre Restany and James Fitzsimmons. 1962 Travels in Europe. Meets Albert E. Elsen in the Rodin Museum in Paris. Henri Michaux visits his Paris studio. Gradual encroachment of the granular veils in the paintings reveals a new sense of substance integrated on the canvas and “another kind of light, a reflecting or incandescent light.” [Elsen, Paul Jenkins, p. 77] The artist continues his exploration of monochrome paint on canvas, including works in grisaille. Participates in group exhibitions at the Musée des Arts décoratifs, Musée du Louvre and Musée d’Art moderne in Paris and at the Whitney Museum in New York.
1966 Travels in Russia, visits Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev. In Zagorsk, sees for the first time the icons of Andreiev Roublev, whose intensity and force impress him greatly. The Ivory Knife is shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and receives the Golden Eagle Award in Venice. Publication of his play, Strike the Puma, by Éditions Gonthier, Paris. In New York, pursues the study of Jungian concepts with Dr. Erlo van Waveren. Harry Abrams proposes publishing a monograph book on his work.
The artist’s bookshelves in Paris, rue Decrès. Photo François Tapié.
1963 Publication of Jenkins by Jean Cassou, Éditions de la Galerie Karl Flinker, Paris. Group exhibitions at the Musée d’Art moderne in Paris, at the Art Institute in Chicago, and at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Obtains the downtown on Broadway in New York from Willem de Kooning. The photographer David Douglas Duncan takes prismatic photographs of the artist in Paris.
1967 Over the next several years the artist paints large works on primed canvas in which grays and granular whites predominate. What Albert E. Elsen describes as “the coming of the grays,” came about through the artist’s search “to find another temperature” and become in touch with a new sense of “structure, or substantial substance.” Awarded the silver medal in painting during the 30th Biennial of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Places a trunk of photographs, correspondence and writings on deposit with the Beinecke Library at Yale University. Exhibits a work on canvads in Dix Ans d’Art Vivant at the Fondation Maeght in St-Paul-de-Vence.
1964 First retrospective takes place at the KestnerGesellschaft of Hanover, with the catalogue text by Wieland Schmied. Filming of The Ivory Knife: Paul Jenkins at Work, produced by Martha Jackson in New York with original percussion score by Irwin Bazelon. Travels to Japan for his exhibition at the Tokyo Gallery. At the suggestion of Joseph Campbell, visits Ise and experiences the profound impact of its architectural elements within the sacred environment. With Bernard Leach, travels in Japan to see the works of Hamada. Works with Jiro Yoshihara and the Gutai in Osaka. Travels to India, visits Bombay, Agra, the Ajanta caves in Aurangabad. In New Delhi, is struck by the independence of the color worn against the landscape. Donates bronze head of Dylan Thomas by Ibram Lassaw and David Slivka to the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, accepted by Richard Burton and his foster father, Phillip Burton, during a presentation at The Poetry Center of the YM-YWHA at 92nd Street in New York. 1965 Travels to Madrid, visits L’Escorial, and then to Biarritz. Publication of Seeing Voice Welsh Heart by the Éditions de la Galerie Karl Flinker in Paris; original lithographs on stone printed by Fernand Mourlot, with poems by Cyril Hodges. Group exhibitions at the Whitney Museum in New York and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Arts in Philadelphia.
The artist in Tokyo, 1964. Photo Kaoru Sekine.
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The artist with Noh mask, ca. 1970s. Photo Akira Kokubo.
1968 Strike the Puma is produced off-Broadway, directed by Vasek Simek, with two large-scale canvases painted by the artist for the stage set, as well as a mannequin torso (painted in 1967). Begins to make unique glass sculptures in Venice with Egidio Costantini, introduced to him by Mark Tobey. Harry Abrams decides against integrating what the artist terms his “black-and-white autobiographical photomontages” into his forthcoming Abrams’ monograph published in 1973. These elements later evolve into Anatomy of a Cloud, published by Harry N. Abrams in 1983. 1971 Retrospective at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and the San Francisco Museum of Art, organized by Gerald Nordland and Philippe de Montebello. Jean-Louis Barrault visits his studio in New York. Sculpts two-ton piece of French limestone at the Sculptors’ Symposium at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York. At the inauguration of the Rothko Chapel in Houston, donates a letter written to him by Mark Rothko concerning his trip to Paris where the two artists visited museums, notably L’Orangerie [for Les Nymphéas], to explore different solutions for a protective distance between the viewer and the paintings regarding the chapel then in preparation. 1972 “Paul Jenkins: Works on Paper,” an exhibition of watercolors, is presented at the Corcoran Gallery of
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Art in Washington, D.C., then travels for two years in the United States. After his exhibition in London with the Gimpel Fils Gallery, travels to Cornwall with Peter Gimpel to see the dolmens. Completes The Four Seasons, original lithographs on stone for Abrams Original Editions. At Triton Press, Jenkins creates Sanctuary, described by the artist and printer Harry Lerner as a “light graphic” to differentiate it from traditional collotype. 1973 Paul Jenkins, with a text by Albert E. Elsen, is published by Harry N. Abrams in New York. First drawings for Mandala Meditation Sundial, a sculpture project for a park. Sees the prehistoric stones at Carnac in France. Emergence of the key autobiographical collage, Horizon Findings. Receives an honorary Doctor of Humanities from the Lindenwood Colleges in Missouri. 1974-76 Retrospective at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Charleroi. Casts Meditation Mandala Sundial in bronze and in brass. On primed canvas and paper, continues to explore through veils of color the Newtonian prism and to investigate translucent and opaque light, revealed and hidden forms. Finishes Boy Man Man Boy, pivotal collage for Anatomy of a Cloud. In 1974-75, attends series of lectures by Meyer Schapiro at Columbia University in New York. Creates original lithographs on stone at Atelier Mourlot in Paris, including a diagram for Meditation Mandala Sundial.
The artist at Shidoni Foundry, Tesuque, New Mexico in 1986, with four segments in steel of his sculpture park, Meditation Mandala Sundial. Photo ©2018 Suzanne Donnelly Jenkins.
1977 Begins St. Croix series of watercolors and paintings and is strongly influenced by the physicality of working outside, reminiscent of Taormina where he was confronted by color in a direct and decisive way. Participates in An Unmarried Woman by Paul Mazursky, filmed in his studio in New York. Works on the autobiographical collages. Mandala Meditation Sundial and Shakti Samothrace are cast in bronze at Tallix Foundry, New York. From his work on canvas, Jean Erdman creates a visual environment for Shining House, a dance piece about Pelé, a goddess in Hawaiian mythology. Requests the return of his trunk of photographs, correspondence and writings on deposit with the Beinecke Library at Yale University since 1967, elements of which become integrated into the artist’s evolving autobiographical collages published in Anatomy of a Cloud by Harry N. Abrams in 1983. 1978 Exhibits Anatomy of a Cloud, collages, paintings and sculptures, at the Gimpel Weitzenhoffer Gallery in New York. Casting of two sculptures into bronze, Excalibur and Echo Chamber, at Tallix Foundry, New York. 1979 During a long stay in the Caribbean, impasto begins to appear in the paintings. Completes Phenomena Forcing a Passage at the Mark, a decisive painting to him in discovering the scraped veils with prism concentrates. 1980 Named Officer of Arts and Letters by the Republic of France. Participates in the D. H. Lawrence Festival in
Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico. At Shidoni Foundry, near Santa Fe, begins construction of full-scale section of Meditation Mandala Sundial in steel. 1981 Retrospective at the Palm Springs Desert Museum. In conjunction with the preparation of Anatomy of a Cloud, creates collages in honor of Jean-Louis Barrault. These collages are shown at the French Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York. At the request of Jean-Louis Barrault, these works travel to the theatre of the Renaud-Barrault Company, Le Théâtre du RondPoint in Paris, to inaugurate La Maison Internationale du Théâtre, whose insignia is created from a work by the artist. Creates original lithographs on stone in Canada at Sword Street Press. Continues to build full-scale elements of the Meditation Mandala sculpture in steel at the Shidoni Foundry in Tesuque, New Mexico; these elements are later installed in the Sculpture Garden of the Hofstra Museum. 1982 Publication of Paul Jenkins by Alain Bosquet, Éditions Georges Fall, Paris, in conjunction with the exhibition at the Galerie Georges Fall, then visited by President François Mitterrand. The Fonds national d’Art contemporain du ministère de la Culture et de la Communication purchases Phenomena Saturn Observes. The director, Alan Schneider, enters Anatomy of a Cloud into his workshop of actors at the University of California at San Diego. Receives the Humanitarian Award from the National Committee of Arts for the Handicapped. Begins to use granular poured veils on scraped prism forms; abstract collage elements integrate themselves in the works on canvas.
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1983 Named Commander of Arts and Letters by the Republic of France. Participates in the colloquium in Paris organized by Jack Lang on creation and its development. Anatomy of a Cloud, an autobiographical book of what the artist calls “word impressions” and collages, is published by Harry N. Abrams in New York and receives the silver medal from the Art Directors Club. 1984 The collages Homage to Jean-Louis Barrault and Tibetan Remnants are shown at the Musée d’art contemporain of Dunkirk. 1985 Creates a medal, in bronze dipped in silver and struck at La Monnaie in Paris, for the French Center of Civilization and Culture of New York University. Solo exhibition at the Gimpel Weitzenhoffer Gallery at FIAC in Paris. JeanLouis Martinoty proposes the creation of a ballet to Jeux composed by Debussy. 1986 Writes Shaman to the Prism Seen, a dance drama. Exhibits his autobiographical collages at the Butler Institute of American Art in Ohio. Travels to London for his exhibition with the Gimpel Fils Gallery and to Tokyo for his exhibition with the Gallery Art Point. Visits Okayama for the collection of works by Yasuo Kuniyoshi and discovers an early painting he last saw leaning against the wall in Kuniyoshi’s 14th Street Union Square studio in New York during his Art Students League years. The billowing and vibrantly colored silks of the entrances to the temples in Nara and Kyoto juxtaposed with the monumental stillness of the architecture leaves a lasting impression. Exhibitioninstallation at Shidoni Foundry near Santa Fe, of the construction in steel of a portion of Meditation Mandala.
1987 Retrospective of his works on canvas at the Musée Picasso in Antibes. The Paris Opera presents his dancedrama, Shaman to the Prism Seen, in the Salle Favart, within the context of the new series “Carte Blanche,” initiated by Jean-Louis Martinoty. Paints two canvases 30 x 40 feet each for the stage set, together with vertical paintings on canvas as sentinel elements for the stage, as well as costumes and silks, and creates a prism dais form for Shaman. Music by Henri Dutilleux; directed by Simone Benmussa. Creates original lithographs on stone at Atelier Franck Bordas in Paris, including one for the Paris Opera. Creates an original lithograph on stone in triptych for a bicentenary edition on parchment of the U.S. Constitution published by Galerie Art Concorde in Paris, and printed at Atelier Clot Bramsen Georges, Paris. 1988 Commissioned to create and paint a silk décor for a performance at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing for “The Return of Marco Polo,” organized by the International Committee for the Safeguard of Venice and the Great Wall. In Beijing paints six banners of 40 x 15 feet, a backdrop of 60 x 75 feet and banners 30 x 3 feet for the Great Wall. Paul in Beijing. 1989 The Musées de Nice present the original painted stage sets for Shaman to the Prism Seen, together with watercolors and large-scale paintings from the last five years at the Galerie des Ponchettes and the Galerie d’art contemporain. Architect Yves Bayard creates Meditation Tower, a structure based on the broken prism concept of the artist and featuring his large-scale stained glass windows.
The artist’s original paintings for his dance-drama, Shaman to the Prism, performed at the Paris Opera Salle Favart, May 1988.
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1990 Exhibition of the silks painted in China and in Paris at the Castello Doria in Portovenere. Receives the medal of the city of Menton. Invited to Israel by Abba and Suzy Eban, and is based in Mishkenot Sha’ananim in Jerusalem; visits the tomb of Maimonides in Tiberius. Travels to Japan for his exhibition with Gallery Art Point in Tokyo. 1991 Exhibits two original lithographs on stone at the Associated American Artists in New York, Masters of Contemporary Printmaking. Exhibition of Conjunctions and Annexes, a series of polyptychs on canvas, at the Gimpel Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York, together with the publication of a book of the same title with a text by Pascal Bonafoux. Invited by Tadashi Suzuk, travels to Japan in August to attend the 10th anniversary of his theatre festival in Toga. Begins to work on original lithographs on stone at the Atelier Franck Bordas in Paris. Exhibition of Grid Panel Prisms, a further series of polyptychs on canvas, at the Gimpel Fils Gallery in London. In December, returns to Japan for the première in Mito of Ivanov, an adaptation by Tadashi Suzuki of the Chekhov play, where Suzuki integrates the silks painted in China and in Paris as elements of the stage set and for Anna’s costume. 1992 Exhibition of watercolors at the Roswitha Haftmann Gallery in Zurich. Seven Aspects of Amadeus and the Others, lithographs on stone printed by Atelier Franck Bordas, are shown at the Basel Art Fair. Writes a text as a one-act play in reference to the lithographs of the Amadeus series, published by Éditions Galilée in Paris. Visits Florence and returns to the frescoes by Giotto and Fra Angelico. Exhibition of the Amadeus lithographs at Atelier Franck Bordas in Paris. Exhibition of recent watercolors and Amadeus lithographs at Associated American Artists Gallery in New York. 1993 Associated American Artists Gallery presents a selection of collages and watercolors at the Armory show in New York. Travels to Palo Alto, California where he works on monotypes at Smith Andersen Editions. Exhibits in Collection of the Maeght Fondation, a Choice of 150 works, Fondation Maeght, St-Paul. Exhibitions of two groups of collages in the fall: in Paris at the Yoshii Gallery and in New York, at Associated American Artists Gallery. 1994 Writes Prism Moon to the Shaman, an allegorical tale about color. Associated American Artists Gallery presents selected recent paintings at the Armory show in New York. Inauguration of L’Eau et la Couleur, a traveling exhibition in France of watercolors in conjunction with the Paris Opera performance of his dance-drama, Shaman to the Prism Seen, together with recent watercolors, including major scale works created in Paris in November of 1993. The historian, Frank
Anderson Trapp, writes an in-depth study of the work in watercolor for the catalogue text. Travels to New Mexico for the Santa Fe Institute of Fine Arts. Continues to work on monotypes at Smith Andersen in Palo Alto. His sculpture, Meditation Mandala Sundial, is installed in the Hofstra University Museum Sculpture Garden. 1995 Exhibition of recent works on canvas at Associated American Artists in New York. The Chateau-Museum of Cagnes-sur-mer mounts an extensive exhibition of recent collages including collage doors from his Paris studio made in the fifties and not previously shown. The City of Nice exhibits the series of lithographs Seven Aspects of Amadeus and the Others. Galerie Proarta in Zurich shows recent paintings and watercolors; excertps from the text by poet and philosopher Jacques Garelli are published in the catalogue. ArtCurial in Paris mounts an exhibition of his lithographs. 1996 Receives an honorary doctorate in humanities from Hofstra University. Participates in the 50th Anniversary Exhibition of Gimpel Fils in London. Travels to Milan for exhibition at Lorenzelli Arte. 1997 The Butler Institute of American Art presents an exhibition of recent work from the last five years. Receives the Life Achievement Award from the Butler Institute, together with the medal of the City of Paris presented by Pierre Buhler, the French Cultural Counsellor of New York. Exhibitions of Cardinal Recognitions at the Galerie Georges Fall in Paris; and, Francis Jenkins Mathieu at Associated American Artists in New York. Elected to the National Academy, New York. Completes Five Incantations, five original lithographs on stone printed by Atelier Bordas in Paris, for the Galerie Georges Fall. Merchant Ivory features a selection of his works from the fifties in the film, A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries, from the novel by Kaylie Jones, based on her years in Paris with her parents, the writer James Jones and his wife, Gloria. 1998 Creates Entrance Shaman, five original lithographs on stone printed by Atelier Bordas in Paris. Elected an honorary member of the Royal Cambrian Academy in Wales. Group exhibitions: Masters of Color and Light: Homer, Sargent and the American Watercolor Movement, the Brooklyn Museum of Art; On Paper, Associated American Artists; Three Americans [Drei Amerikaner]: Sam Francis, Paul Jenkins, Mark Tobey, at Galerie Wazzau, Davos, Switzerland; Collection of the Fondation Maeght, St-Paul-de-Vence; Regard sur l’estampe en France de 1945 à nos jours, PACA, traveling in France. Elected an honorary member of the Royal Cambrian Academy in Wales. 1999 Creates At Stroke of Twelve, an original stone lithograph
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The artist in Kyoto 2001. Photo ©2001 Suzanne Donnelly Jenkins.
for the Print Club in New York presented in October. The Hofstra Museum mounts an exhibition of works on canvas from the years 1954-1960, and the Joseph Rickards Gallery in New York exhibits works from the 1957-59 transitional series of paintings, Eyes of the Dove. A painting from the Eyes of the Dove is shown in the traveling exhibition and catalogue, Les Années de Combat, 1951-1962, organized by Présence d’Art Contemporain in Angers centering on the Paris art review Cimaise and the Galerie Arnaud. Invited to write text about the Gutai for the catalogue of the exhibition at the Jeu de Paume in Paris, and reconnects with Gutai artists he knew from Osaka who have traveled to Paris for the opening. 2000 The Butler Institute of American Art in Ohio mounts his exhibition Water and Color in celebration of their new wing. Receives the Benjamin Clinedinst Medal from the Artists’ Fellowship in New York. The City of Vicenza mounts Viaggio in Italia, an extensive exhibition of works on canvas and watercolors in the Basilica Palladiana, with a fully illustrated catalogue of the works shown with a text by Beatrice Buscaroli and others. Creates lithograph on stone with watercolor for the limited edition of La Misère des Philosophes by Jean-François Lyotard, published by Editions Galilée, Paris. Microcosms, an exhibition of small scale works on canvas, opens at the Joseph Rickards Gallery, New York. In honor of the New York visit of the Rev. Seiyu Kiriyama, exhibits recent paintings at the Agonshu Agama Gallery. Seiyu Kiriyama Kancho performs the Sacred Fire Ritual at the Unitarian Church. Broken Silences, the first retrospective exhibition of collages, is shown at the Vero Beach Museum of Art, Florida. Moves from his studio acquired from Willem de Kooning in 1963. 2001 Invited by the Rev. Seiyu Kiriyama Kancho, travels to
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Kyoto in February for the monumental outdoor Fire Ceremony; visits stone gardens, temples and shrines and experiences the intensity of their stillness. Le Centre d’Art Contemporain of Bouvet-Ladubay in Saumur, presents a comprehensive exhibition of recent works on canvas. 2002 From the artist’s studio, David Douglas Duncan purchases a large-scale painting, which he then donates to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri. Travels to London to see the Barnett Newman exhibition at the Tate Gallery. Feu Sacré, a theatre performance by Macha Méril with a large-scale backdrop of the artist’s painting, Phenomena Strike the Tiger, texts by George Sand and music by Chopin interpreted by Jean-Marc Luisada, is performed in Bordeaux. 2003 Writes eulogy for Al Hirschfeld, published in the Art Students League quarterly, Linea. Travels to London for his exhibition at the Redfern Gallery, and to Prato in Italy. 2004 Japanese television, NHK, films interview in the studio about Yasuo Kuniyoshi and the Art Student League years. 2005 Works on canvas from the 60s and the 90s are presented at Robert Green Fine Arts in Mill Valley, California; and watercolors at Galerie Proarta in Zurich. Creates specific works on canvas in New York for As Above So Below, a temporary installation at the Abbaye of Silvacane, a 12th century Cistercian abbey in Roque d’Anthéron, near Aix-en-Provence. A painting from this series is shown at the Maison Cézanne in Aix-en-Provence. Œuvres
Paul Jenkins: Œuvres Majeures, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille 2005. Original paintings by the artist for his dance-drama Shaman to the Prism Seen, performed at the Paris Opera Salle Favart, 1987. Photo ©2015 Suzanne Donnelly Jenkins.
Majeures, an exhibition of works on canvas together with watercolors, opens at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille and is attended by over 40,000 viewers. Receives the gold medal of the City of Lille, awarded at the exhibition inauguration. Works on canvas 1954-1960 are shown at the Redfern Gallery in London, with catalogue text by Kent Minturn; followed by an exhibition of works 19542003 at Galleria Open Art, Prato, with accompanying catalogue text, Cosmogonie Interiori, Bruno Corà. 2006 Water and Color, more than 50 watercolors, including 5 large scale, is shown at the Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock. Feu Sacré, with Macha Méril and Jean-Marc Luisada, is performed in Paris at the Théâtre Mogador, with a large-scale backdrop of the artist’s painting, Phenomena Strike the Tiger, texts by George Sand and music by Chopin. The canvas, Iguana (1956) is shown in L’Envolée Lyrique: Paris 1945-1956, Musée du Luxembourg, Paris. Exhibition of works on canvas from the 70s at Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley, California. 2007 The exhibition Paul Jenkins in the Fifties: Space, Color and Light, works on canvas from 1955-1960 is shown at D. Wigmore Fine Art, New York. The Ballet Western Reserve performs two evenings of dance choreographed to his paintings in the collection of the Butler Institute of American Art in Ohio. Travels to London for his exhibition of recent paintings at the Redfern Gallery, and to Venice for a retrospective presentation of his works at the Cornice Art Fair by Galleria Open Art. Revisits Padua to see again the frescoes of Giotto in the Scrovegni chapel. The artist donates close to 5,000 pieces from his archive to the Archives of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution. This donation includes correspondence from Willem de Kooning, Beauford Delaney, Jean Dubuffet, Thomas B. Hess, Philippe Hosiasson, Joan Mitchell, Mark Tobey among many others. In addition, the collection contains a rich and
extensive correspondence with the Seattle art dealer Zoe Dusanne, and art historians Albert E. Elsen and Frank Anderson Trapp. Donates over 400 black-andwhite theatre photographs of Jean-Louis Barrault to the Special Collections & Archives of the Fenwick Library of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Selected and acquired by the artist in 1980, the photographs are of stage productions, theatre events and interior views of the company’s successive theatres from 1979 reaching back to 1947 when the Renaud-Barrault Company was founded. 2008 The Archives of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution receives more than 1,000 additional items for the Paul Jenkins Papers. Continues to work on canvas and in watercolor. 2009 Recent Acquisitions—the Paul Jenkins Papers, selected documents are on view in the New York City location of the Archives of American Art. Paul Jenkins in the 1960s and 1970s: Space, Color and Light is shown at D. Wigmore Fine Art in New York City; Sandra H. Olsen of the UB Art Galleries in Buffalo writes the catalogue text. The Pollock-Krasner House & Study Center in East Hampton, New York exhibits “Under Each Other’s Spell”: Gutai and New York, featuring work from the artist’s Gutai collection — acquired during his stay in 1964 when he worked with the Gutai in Osaka — together with a painting by the artist from that time. The exhibition travels to The Harold B. Lemmerman Gallery, New Jersey City University, New Jersey. Participates in the panel Gutai: A ‘Concrete’ Discussion of Transnationalism, at the Guggenheim Museum. Donation to the Archives of American Art of eight watercolor drawings from 1977 by the late architect Frank Prince of a proposed building to adjoin the artist’s sculpture park, Meditation Mandala Sundial.
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2010 The Galleria Civica Ezio Mariani di Seregno exhibits a selection of watercolors with an accompanying publication. The UB Art Galleries of the State University of New York at Buffalo mount two exhibitions concurrently: Paul Jenkins in the 1960s and 1970s, expanded to include additional large-scale works, and “Under Each Other’s Spell”: Gutai and New York. A retrospective presentation of works on canvas takes place at the Palazzo Pacchiani with more recent works at Galleria Open Art in Prato. Receives the Seals of the City of Prato. As part of the festivities celebrating the opening of its new building, the Crocker Art Museum exhibits Paul Jenkins: The Color of Light, 50 watercolors including large-scale and works originally created for the Paris Opera, together with selected paintings on canvas. 2011 Paintings from the 60s and 70s are shown in the Redfern Gallery in London; Michel Peppiatt writes the catalogue text. 2012 Tel qu’en lui, l ‘éternité le change. Stéphane Mallarmé A memorial celebrating the life of Paul Jenkins is held at the Morgan Library & Museum, New York.
2014 Paintings and watercolors are shown in the exhibition Gravity’s Edge at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. Exhibition On Canvas and Paper 1989-2009 at the Redfern Gallery, London. Exhibition at the Galleria Open Art, Prato in conjunction with the retrospective at the Museo di Pittura Murale in S. Domenico, Prato. Robert Miller Gallery in New York presents a survey exhibition of works on canvas from the 1960s to the 2000s, including four paintings from the artist’s Chapel of Meditation on view together for the first time. 2015 The Butler Institute of American Art in Ohio presents a Tribute exhibition of works on canvas 2004-2010. The British Museum in London acquires Katherine Wheel, a 1979 monoprint made at Tyler Graphics, New York. The artist’s work is shown in the group exhibitions On the Front Lines at the Art Students League of New York, based on Art Students League artists and the GI Bill; Abstraction at Robert Miller Gallery in New York; and Martha Jackson Graphics at the UB Galleries at the
Photo of the artist Shunk-Kender, Paris 1963. ©Roy Lichtenstein Foundation.
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Installation view of Phenomena Reverse Spell 1963 and Phenomena Tibetan Banner 1973 in the exhibition Gravity’s Edge at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. February 7 – June 15, 2014. Photo ©2014 Suzanne Donnelly Jenkins.
University of Buffalo. Solo exhibition at the Pinacoteca of Gaeta: Colors Unseen curated by Giorgio Agnisola. A large-scale canvas from 1969 is among several Jenkins’ works on canvas shown in the group exhibition A Tribute to David K. Anderson at the University of Buffalo, November 2015 to March 2016. The Cleveland Museum of Art acquires an important work from 1960, Phenomena When I Looked Away, one of the last paintings in oil.
2017 Exhibition of Made in America at the Galleria Open Art, Prato. Participates in the exhibition Intuition at the Palazzo Fortuny, coinciding with the Venice Biennale.
2016 The University of Buffalo Art Galleries exhibit the artist’s installation, Chapel of Meditation, along with an expanded version of On the Front Lines. A seminal canvas work in triptych from 1963, Phenomena Galileo Galilei, is shown in the exhibition The Women Who Made Modern Art Modern at X Contemporary, Miami. The Fondation Maeght in St-Paul-de-Vence exhibits a large canvas from its collection in Espace Espace! Abbot Hall Art Gallery of Lakeland Arts, Kendal, Cumbria UK, mounts an exhibition of selected canvases, together with a catalogue.
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Installation view of the artist’s Chapel of Meditation, UB Anderson Gallery, State University of New York at Buffalo, 1986.
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Selected Solo Exhibitions 2017 Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley. 2016 Abbot Hall Art Gallery. Kendal, Cumbria. UB Anderson Gallery, State University of New York at Buffalo. 2015 Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown. 2014 Robert Miller Gallery, New York. Museo di Pittura Murale, Prato. Redfern Gallery, London. Galleria Open Art, Prato. 2012 Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley. 2011 Redfern Gallery, London. 2010 Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento. Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley. Palazzo Pacchiani, Prato. Galleria Open Art, Prato. UB Anderson Gallery, State University of New York at Buffalo. Galleria Civica Ezio Mariani di Seregno. 2009 Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, Jacksonville. D. Wigmore Fine Art, New York. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, NY location. Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley, California. 2008 Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley, California. 2007 Redfern Gallery, London. D. Wigmore Fine Art, New York. 2006 Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock. Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley, California. 2005 Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille. Abbaye de Silvacane, La Roque d’Anthéron. Redfern Gallery, London. Galleria Open Art, Prato. Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley, California. Galerie Proarta, Zurich.
2004 Museo Civico, Assessorato alla Cultura di Pizzighettone. 2003 Redfern Gallery, London. Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte. 2002 Château Haut-Gléon, Les Corbières. 2001 Centre d’art contemporain, Bouvet Ladubay, Saumur. Galerie Proarta, Zurich. 2000 Basilica Palladiana, Vicenza. Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown. Vero Beach Museum of Art, Florida (collage retrospective). Joseph Rickards Gallery, New York. 1999 Hofstra Museum, Hempstead, New York. Joseph Rickards Gallery, New York. Galerie Patrice Trigano, Paris. 1998 Joseph Rickards Gallery, New York. 1997 Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown. Galerie Georges Fall, Paris. Galerie Proarta, Zurich. 1996 Lorenzelli Arte, Milan. 1995 Centre d’art contemporain, Bouvet Ladubay, Saumur. Château-Musée Grimaldi, Cagnes-sur-mer. Associated American Artists, New York. Galerie Proarta, Zurich. 1994 L’Eau et la Couleur, traveling watercolour exhibition in France. La Maison Française, New York University, New York (collages: Hommage à Jean-Louis Barrault). Gallery Art Point, Tokyo. Pasquale Iannetti Gallery, San Francisco. Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown [collages]. 1993 Smith Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto. Yoshii Gallery, Paris (collages). Associated American Artists, New York (collages).
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1992 Roswitha Haftmann Gallery, Zurich. Atelier Franck Bordas, Basel Art Fair and Paris. Guy Pieters Gallery, Knokke-le-Zoute. Associated American Artists, New York. Galerie Iris Wazzau, Davos, Switzerland. 1991 Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York (polyptychs I). Gimpel Fils, London (polyptychs II). 1990 Castello Doria, Portovenere. Galerie Patrice Trigano, Paris. Gallery Art Point, Tokyo. 1989 Musées de Nice: Galerie des Ponchettes et Galerie d’art contemporain, Nice. 1988 Samuel Stein Gallery, Chicago. Galerie Patrice Trigano, Paris. Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York (collages). Galerie Régis Dorval, Le Touquet. Gana Gallery, Seoul. Galleria La Loggia, Bologna. Carone Gallery, Fort Lauderdale. 1987 Musée Picasso, Antibes (retrospective). Galerie Régis Dorval, Lille. 1986 Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown (collages). Gimpel Fils, London. MR Galleria d’Arte Contemporaneo, Rome. Galerie Michel Delorme, Paris. Roswitha Haftmann, Zurich. Gallery Art Point, Tokyo. Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York. 1985 Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York and FIAC, Paris. Gallery Moos, Toronto. Galerie Georges Fall, Paris. Galleri Art Atrium, Stockholm. 1984 Musée d’art contemporain, Dunkirk (collages). Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York. Carone Gallery, Fort Lauderdale. 1983 Mead Art Museum, Amherst. Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York.
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Galerie Georges Fall, Paris. Alex Rosenberg Gallery, New York (collages). Contemporary Gallery, Dallas. 1982 Gimpel Fils, London. I. Irving Feldman Galleries, Detroit. Galerie Georges Fall, Paris. 1981 Belk Art Gallery, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee. French Cultural Services, New York, and la Maison Internationale du Théâtre, Théâtre du Rond-Point, Paris (collages: Hommage à Jean-Louis Barrault). Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York. 1980 Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California (retrospective). Gimpel Fils, London. Contemporary Gallery, Dallas. Albert White Gallery, Toronto. Galerie Karl Flinker, Paris. Gallery Gwyn Hodges, Oxford. 1979 Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York. Baukunst Galerie, Cologne. Elaine Horwitch Gallery, Scottsdale. Samuel Stein Gallery, Chicago. 1978 Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York. Samuel Stein Gallery, Chicago. Balcon des Arts, Paris. Diane Gilson Gallery, Seattle. Galleria d’Arte Narciso, Turin. 1977 Martha Jackson Gallery, New York. Gimpel & Hanover Galerie, Zurich. Galerie Cours Saint-Pierre, Geneva. Sears Bank & Trust Company, Chicago. Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa. Diane Gilson Gallery, Seattle. 1976 Samuel Stein Gallery, Chicago. Galerie Karl Flinker, Paris and Basel Art Fair. Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York. 1975 Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York. Galerie Tanit, Munich.
1974 Musée des Beaux-Arts de Charleroi, Charleroi (retrospective). Baukunst Galerie, Cologne. Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Columbus. Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York. Gimpel Fils, London. Galerie Ulysses, Vienna.
Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit. Court Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark. Gallery of Modern Art, Scottsdale. 1964 Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hanover (retrospective). Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo. American Art Gallery, Copenhagen. Kumar Gallery, New Delhi. Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.
1973 1963 Galerie Karl Flinker, Paris. Arthur Tooth & Sons, London. Art Gallery of the University of Notre Dame, Notre Galerie Karl Flinker, Paris. Dame. Lindenwood Colleges Art Gallery, St. Charles, Missouri. Gallery Moos, Toronto. Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City. 1962 Martha Jackson Gallery, New York. Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne. Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York. Galerie Lienhard, Zurich. Galerie Karl Flinker, Paris. 1972 Esther Robles Gallery, Los Angeles. San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco Toninelli Arte Moderna, Milan. (retrospective). Galleria Odyssia, Rome. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Initiates traveling watercolour exhibition continuing to the 1961 Amarillo Art Center, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale Museum University Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. of Art, Lauren Rodgers Memorial Library and Art Gallery,Galerie Karl Flinker, Paris. Martha Jackson Gallery, New York. Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Witte Memorial Museum. 1960 Gimpel Fils, London. Arthur Tooth & Sons, London. Martha Jackson Gallery, New York. 1971 Galerie d’Art Moderne, Stuttgart. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (retrospective). Martha Jackson Gallery, New York. 1959 Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago. Galerie Stadler, Paris. Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit. 1970 Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.
1958 Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.
1969 Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.
1957 Galerie Stadler, Paris.
1968 Galerie Daniel Gervis, Paris. Gallery Moos, Toronto. Galerie Räber, Lucerne. Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.
1956 Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.
1966 Martha Jackson Gallery, New York. Arthur Tooth & Sons, London. Galerie Agnès LeFort, Montreal. Hope Makler Gallery, Philadelphia.
1954 Studio Paul Facchetti, Paris. Zimmergalerie Franck, Frankfurt am Main.
1955 Zoe Dusanne Gallery, Seattle.
1965 Galerie Karl Flinker, Paris.
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Museum Collections Australia Canberra, Australian National Gallery. Austria Vienna, Albertina Museum. Canada Montreal, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario. France Antibes, Musée Picasso. Dunkirk, Musée d’art contemporain. Paris, Fonds national de l’art contemporain du ministère de la culture et de la communication. Paris, Musée national d’art moderne-Centre Pompidou. Paris, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris. Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Fondation Maeght. Villeneuve d’Ascq, Musée d’art moderne. Germany Cologne, Kölnischer Kunstverein. Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz Museum. Hanover, Kestner-Gesellschaft. Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemaldesammlungen, Neue Pinakothek. Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie. Israel Jerusalem, The Israel Museum. Tel Aviv, The Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Japan Hiroshima, The Museum of Contemporary Art. Osaka, The National Museum of Art. Tokyo, National Museum of Western Art. Tokyo, The Seibu Museum. Toyama, The Museum of Modern Art. Netherlands Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum. United Kingdom Aberystwyth, University School of Art Gallery and Museum. Belfast, Ulster Museum, National Museum Northern Ireland. Cardiff, National Museum Wales. Kendal, Cumbria, Abbot Hall Art Gallery. Kingston upon Hull, Ferens Art Gallery. Lancaster, Peter Scott Gallery, Lancaster University. Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery. London, British Museum. London, Tate. London, Victoria and Albert Museum. Oldham, Gallery Oldham. United States Albany, Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Art Collection. Albany, Albany Institute of History and Art. Amherst, Mead Art Museum. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Museum of Art. Austin, University of Texas Art Museum, Huntingdon Art Gallery. Baltimore, Baltimore Museum of Art. Berkeley, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Boca Raton, Boca Raton Museum of Art.
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Bloomfield Hills, Cranbrook Art Museum. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts. Buffalo, Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Buffalo, UB Anderson Gallery, State University of New York at Buffalo. Cambridge, Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University Art Museums. Cambridge, Albert and Vera List Visual Arts Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Champaign, Krannert Art Museum. Charlotte, Mint Museum of Art. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Columbus, Columbus Museum of Art. Corpus Christi, South Texas Institute for the Arts. Des Moines, Des Moines Art Center. Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts. Fort Lauderdale, NSU Art Museum. Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids Art Museum. Hamilton, Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University. Hempstead, Hofstra Museum of Art. Honolulu, Honolulu Academy of Arts. Indianapolis, Indianapolis Museum of Art. Jacksonville, Museum of Contemporary Art. Kansas City, Missouri, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Lafayette, Greater Lafayette Museum of Art. Lawrence, Spencer Museum of Art. Lincoln, DeCordova Museum & Sculpture Park. Little Rock, Arkansas Arts Center. Louisville, J. B. Speed Art Museum. Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art Museum. Minneapolis, Walker Art Center. New Orleans, New Orleans Museum of Art. New York, Brooklyn Museum. New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. New York, Museum of Modern Art. New York, Morgan Library and Museum. New York, New York University Art Collection. New York, Whitney Museum of American Art. Norfolk, Chrysler Museum. Norman, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Palm Springs, Palm Springs Desert Museum. Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art. Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum. Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art. Portland, Maine, Portland Museum of Art. Ridgefield, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art. Sacramento, Crocker Art Museum. San Diego, San Diego Museum of Art. San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Art. Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Santa Fe, Museum of Fine Arts. San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California. Seattle, Seattle Art Museum. South Hadley, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum. Springfield, Missouri, Springfield Museum of Art. Stanford, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts. Savannah, Telfair Museum of Art. Terre Haute, Sheldon Swope Art Gallery. Tucson, University of Arizona Museum of Fine Arts. Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution. Washington, D.C., Smithsonian American Art Museum. Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art. Williamstown, Williams College Museum of Art. Worcester, Worcester Art Museum. Youngstown, Butler Institute of American Art.
Acknowledgements All works of art by Paul Jenkins ©2021 Estate of Paul Jenkins Photographs courtesy the Estate of Paul Jenkins Arnold Newman photographs printed with generous permission from Arnold Newman Properties and Getty Images
Catalogue ©2021 The Redfern Gallery and the Estate of Paul Jenkins 2021 Front cover Phenomena Phoenix Talisman 1995 (detail) watercolour on paper 43.375 × 31.125 ins 110.2 × 79.1 cm
Catalogue design Graham Rees Design Photography Roz Akin Noel Allum Serge Ephraïm Roy Fox Biff Heinrich Timothy Pyle Light Blue Studio Michael Tramis Todd-White Chronology and documentation Suzanne Donnelly Jenkins Published by The Redfern Gallery, London, 2021 In conjunction with the exhibition Paul Jenkins: Immanent Colour. Works on Paper from the 1990s 14 May – 12 June 2021
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any other information storage or retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the gallery and from the Estate of Paul Jenkins and the copyright owners.
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