L’Eau et la Couleur – Paul Jenkins

First Tuesday ArtWalk:
*April 2, 5:30 – 7:30 pm

Exhibition Dates:
* March 15 – April 28, 2024

“The instantaneous character of the watercolor makes its specific demand. It always encourages one to break the confines of oneself and come on discovery. When I work with it, it is jealous of me. It hates the smell of oil paint around. It wishes to be unto itself and use me as the medium. For this reason perhaps watercolor has never been a preparation for anything but itself.” Paul Jenkins, Paris 1961

The paintings and watercolors of Paul Jenkins have come to represent the spirit, vitality, and invention of post World War II American abstraction.

Employing an unorthodox approach to paint application, Jenkins is as much identified with the process of controlled paint-pouring as with the gem-like veils of transparent and luminous color which have characterize his work since the late 1950’s.

The work by, Paul Jenkins (1923-2012) have been widely exhibited throughout the world since his first solo exhibitions in 1950’s with Martha Jackson Gallery, New York; Arthur Tooth & Sons, London and Galerie Karl Flinker, Paris.

His first American retrospective, organized by Philippe de Montebello and Gerald Nordland, was held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1971), and traveled to the San Francisco Museum of Art (1972).

Major retrospectives were held at the Palm Springs Desert Museum; Musée Picasso, Antibes; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Charleroi; Kunstverein, Cologne; Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover.

Jenkins’ works are found in international museum and private collections including the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Brooklyn Museum in New York; the National Museum of American Art and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.; the Tate Gallery in London; Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris; and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

His works are found in international museum and private collections including the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Brooklyn Museum in New York; the National Museum of American Art and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.; the Tate Gallery in London; Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris; and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.