Born Onaga, Nov. 6, 1868; died Eastland County, TX, 1937. Painter, specialized in landscapes. Studied at the Academié Julian in Paris in 1888 with Benjamin Constant and Jules Lefebvre. Also studied with Claude Monet, Courtois, and 117 Dagran-Bouvert . Wife is Bessie H. Was head of the Art Dept. at Friends University, Wichita, in 1916. Lived in Amarillo, Austin, and Houston, TX as well as Tulsa, OK and Springfield, MO, Topeka and Wichita.Source:
COLLECTIONS:
State capitol, Richmond, VA; high school in Fort Smith, AR; Houston, TX; State capitol in Austin, TX; Library at University of Texas, Austin; Mulvane Art Museum; Waco Public Library; Topeka Public Library; Tulsa Public Library; Santa Fe Collection; Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum; Ogden Museum of Southern Art.
MEMBERSHIPS:
Texas Society of Painters, and Kansas Federation of Arts.
SOURCES:
Susan Craig, "Biographical Dictionary of Kansas Artists (active before 1945)"
Who’s Who in American Art. New York: American Federation of Arts, 1936- v.1=1936-37 v.3= 1941-42 v.2=1938-39 v.4=1940-47. 1, 2, 3; Sain, Lydia. Kansas Artists, compiled by Lydia Sain from 1932 to 1948. Typed Manuscript, 1948.; American Art Annual. New York: American Federation of Arts, 1898-194712/13/14; Dawdy 2: Dawdy, Doris Ostrander. Artists of the American West: A Biographical Dictionary. Volume 2. Chicago: Swallow Press, 1981.; Wichita City Directory (1877; 1878; 1881; 1883; 1885; 1886; 1887; 1888; 1889; 1890; 1891; 1892; 1894; 1896; 1898-99; 1900; 1902; 1903-04; 1904-05; 1906; 1907; 1908; 1909; 1910; 1911; 1912; 1913; 1914; 1915; 1916; 1917; 1918; 1919; 1920; 1922; 1923; 1924; 1925; 1926; 1927; 1928; 1929; 1930; 1931; 1932; 1933; 1934) 1916;
The following is from Tom Nolan, whose grandfather's brother was the dentist referenced below:
John Elliot Jenkins painted in and around Tulsa, Oklahoma during the Depression. He traded several of his works to Tulsa Dentist Frank Brandenburg for dental services.
Exhibition Record (Museums, Institutions and Awards):
6th McPherson Exhibition (Catalogue of the Annual Art Exhibit. McPherson: McPherson High School Press, 1911-35) 1916; 17th McPherson Exhibition (Catalogue of the Annual Art Exhibit. McPherson: McPherson High School Press, 1911-35) 1927; ”; 4th Annual Kansas Artists Exhibition (Topeka: Mulvane Art Museum, 1925-1941), 1928.Memberships:
Texas Society of Painters, and Kansas Federation of Arts.
Born in Onaga, Kansas, in 1868, John Eliot Jenkins studied under
John-Joseph Benjamin-Constant and Jules Lefebvre, probably at the
Academie Julian in Paris. Allegedly, Jenkins also studied with Claude
Monet.
Primarily a landscape painter, Jenkins was based in Amarillo, Austin,
and Houston, Texas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Topeka, Kansas; and Springfield,
Missouri. In the early 1930s, he visited the Adobe Walls battlesite in the Texas Panhandle, and made an historical painting of the site as it might have looked at the time of the battle (1874). He also painted in Palo Duro Canyon in Texas. One of his portraits of W. P. Zuber hangs in the Texas State Capitol, and his portrait of Confederate General Sterling Price, which hung for years in a Springfield, Missouri, hotel, is unlocated.
Jenkins died in Eastland County, Texas, in 1937.
Source: Grauer and Grauer, "The Dictionary of Texas Artists, 1800-1945", Texas A & M University Press, 1999; and Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum artist files.
