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Goldsmiths, University of London, which houses one of the main art schools in the city, estimates that a new donation worth at least 6 million pounds sterling could be a plan for future philanthropy in the higher education sector in the United Kingdom. The gift has just Peter Kellner, a former investment banker and donor of arts under the radar, and combines 2 million pounds sterling, which the university has already received, with the legacy of a collection of 60 pieces, estimated today at 4 million pounds sterling. Above all, Kellner donates art as an asset without restriction that goldsmiths can use as he chooses – including the sale of all or part of the collection.
The gift arrives at a vital time for the goldsmiths, whose famous elders of art include Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas and Steve McQueen, but who recently suffered from many other people in artistic education. The commercial model of Goldsmiths depends strongly on tuition fees, which represented 76% of the income (104 million pounds sterling) during the year to July 2024. The drop in student numbers and the reduction of government financing meant that the University should implement a cost reduction exercise that lost almost a fifth of its staff last year.
In question, says Richard Noble, head of the art department of Goldsmiths, is that “there is a demotion of creative arts in education in the United Kingdom, starting at school”. With Kellner's gift, known as noble, the university can start taking more control over its destiny. “We have never had philanthropy culture, but it has become clear that it is part of the way we have to support each other.” The plan is to launch “an appropriate endowment” – they hold 100 million pounds sterling – “then the banking interest becomes significant and we have a safety net,” he said.
For Kellner, who has grown in New York and has lived in London for over 30 years, the United Kingdom risks losing the cultural references that kept it in the city. “Each successive government has not understood the economic value of the arts in London. If you lose the creative scene, what are you? People will not come here to visit the zoo, ”he says.
He and his deceased wife, Maria, participated with enthusiasm while the London artistic scene prospered in the 1990s and was among the important donors who gave life to Tate Modern in 2000 – the fourth level bridge which joined the original boiler house and the new Switch house bear their name, a rare public appearance.
The majority of works in Kellner's donation are paintings, not all particularly easy to the eye. There are big strikers, including a red and glowed paint by Lucio Fontana from 1965, which Kellner bought at auction for nearly £ 150,000 in 2001. Today, such work could easily sell for more than 10 times this amount. A little Philip Guston from 1968 with a red splashed shoe also stands out, just like a Gormley Antony Initiates Stick -man sculpture in the 1998 series. The collection is long in the work of the British abstract painter Basil Beattie, a friend of Kellner and a longtime tutor of goldsmith – the gift has been given in his honor.
The less known artists also present, in particular a painting of a nightmarish monster by Christoph Meyer of Germany: “Man bear” (1987-88). “I was alone in business in New York and I had to have a little too much to drink. I think I am the only person who likes this, ”explains Kellner.
Such works reveal something about the history of Kellner – his parents emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1929 and Kellner then studied German at Colgate University, a Liberal Arts College in New York, to which he also provides considerable support. He moved to Europe in 1988, initially to Frankfurt, while his career in Morgan Stanley took off.
Today, Kellner wants to continue to live with his art. “I am 81 years old but I have good genes,” he said (his father died at the age of 97, his mother was 107 years old). It was part of the thought behind the immediate gift of cash, which, he says, “shows the gravity of my intention”.
Kellner believes that education comes to the heart of today's problems. “There is a lack of leadership in the world today. Students study business, then go to Silicon Valley to become technology experts and earn more money than anyone who cannot dream and they think they are geniuses. But to be a future leader, you need a feeling of history, geography, sociology … to go to the world as a thinker, “he said.
For noble, the goldsmiths can now start to “expand the meaning of an active”. He explains: “We can use the collection as an asset of teaching or a research asset or lend it, it is not only a question of selling for an immediate capital gain. There are all kinds of possibilities, in particular with ACC ” – Goldsmiths' Center for Contemporary Art, an exhibition space that is in its Lewisham campus. It is open to variations on the theme. “We want more people to know that they can manifest themselves, we can agree on different terms each time. This is only the beginning. “
