William Paul Jenkins is an abstract painter, watercolorist, and printmaker.  His most characteristic works are composed of thin, overlapping, veil-like, washes of color delineated and punctuated by bands and lines.  The bands and lines are applied according to Zen Buddhist concepts of the symbolic potential of light and color.

Jenkins was born in Kansas City, Missouri, where he attended the Art Institute.  After serving in the U.S. Naval Air Corps, he resumed his studies at The Carnegie Institute's Drama School and the Art Students League, where he studied with Yasuo Kuniyoshi.  In 1953 he traveled to Europe and established a studio in Paris.  His first one person exhibition was held at Studio Paul Facchetti in 1954.  In 1971 Houston's Museum of Fine Arts held a retrospective exhibition of his work.