German arts broadcaster Hans-Jörg Modlmayr and his wife Hildegard have given the university 80 letters written by the 'neglected genius' Kennethson
Cambridge University will today accept gifts which mark the life and centenary of an artist that few have heard of, but is, according to his supporters, a hidden genius ignored by his own country.
In total, 80 letters are being donated to the university's library by a couple who believe the Surrey-born artist George Kennethson has been unfairly treated by the art establishment.
The couple leading the cheers for Kennethson are not even British. Hans-Jörg Modlmayr and his wife Hildegard Modlmayr-Heimath are travelling from their home in Germany for the ceremony, 100 years after Kennethson's birth.
"It is a great pity that the British public has not yet had a proper chance to discover his true genius," said Modlmayr, an author and arts broadcaster in Germany. "He is an artist of huge importance."
The German couple are leading a campaign to get Kennethson more noticed and for institutions to wake up to him. Apart from the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh and Kettle's Yard in Cambridge, no major gallery contains his work.
Kennethson, who died in 1994, spent a lifetime carving in English stone and his work is often based on everyday subjects: birds for example or relationships or the sea or the sky.
Modlmayr, who studied at Cambridge and went on to teach at Gonville and Caius College, came across Kennethson's work at an exhibition in 1972. His wife was so bowled over that she bought a piece without telling her husband.
"Both of us fell in love with his work. He is a very intelligent observer of life able to translate complicated things, like the sea, sky or clouds into beautiful sculpture and he does it with great sensitivity and musicality," said Modlmayr.
He believes that one reason Kennethson is not better known is because he did not mix in the right circles – he wasn't part of the art establishment.
"He was such an independent mind and not in the hands of a dealer," he said. "If you were interested in his work you had to go and see him in person and if he didn't like you he wouldn't sell to you. His pieces were like his children, he was loathe to part with them and if he did they had to go to the right home."
The Modlmayrs are also giving Cambridge a Kennethson sculpture and are still in discussions as to where it might go. The letters, to be handed over at the Keynes room at the university's library, were received by the couple from Kennethson, giving insights into the artist's life and work.