American painter and sculptor, born in Kansas City. He settled in Paris in 1953 and has since worked both there and in New York. His paintings, which are built up from veils of prismatic colour poured on to the canvas, can seem half-way between Parisian and New York abstraction and are usually given a title beginning ‘phenomena’. John *Berger has described the effect of his work thus: ‘One watches them as one watches flames flickering at night in a fire, which abruptly stops for an instant (an aeon) and then imperturbably continues.’ Jenkins has also made sculpture, including works at the Murano glass factory in Venice and designs for the theatre. Further Reading J. Berger, ‘The Colour Code’, The Guardian (19 October 2005)