Banbury-trained photographer receives top arts award and donates lifetime work to France

Photographer Michael Kenna, whose long career began at the Banbury School of Art and whose lifetime of work has been donated to France

World-renowned photographer Michael Kenna, who started his career in Banbury, has been given a top arts award by the French Government and has donated his lifetime’s work to France.

Michael Kenna, who left Banbury aged 19 after discovering his passion for photography at Banbury School of Art, was awarded the decoration of Officer des Arts et des Lettres earlier this month.

The ceremony was performed by France’s culture minister, Rima Abdul Malak who also announced the donation of Kenna’s life archive to be housed by the French state at the Mediatheque de Photographie et Patrimoine in Montigny-le Bretonneux.

The donation includes 3,683 original silver gelatin photographic prints of images made in 43 different countries, along with accompanying negatives and scans, 175,000 other negatives, 6,422 working prints from 1983-2000, 1,280 Polaroid prints, 87 books and monographs and all archives relating to Kenna’s artistic activity for the past 50 years.Kenna, said to be the world’s best landscape photographer, said: “I have had a love affair with France since the very beginning of my career.

Pont des Arts, Paris, France, 1987 by Michael Kenna

"Looking objectively, France is the country where I have photographed most and there are more photographs from France in the donation than from any other country.

"Also, the 300 prints and 6,000 negatives from the Concentration Camp project (recorded in the book Impossible to Forget) made between 1988-2000 were donated to France over two decades ago.

"It was important to me that my whole archive would be situated in one place and it is very comforting to know that my work will now rest alongside the ouevres of photographers that I love and admire, such as Jacques Henri Lartigue, Andre Kertesz, Willy Ronis and others.

"I am enormously appreciative that the Mediatheque de Photographie et Patrimoine has accepted my work and will help to protect it against the ravages of time.”

Chateau chandelier, Rambouillet, France 2018

Kenna has retained complete, full and unrestricted usage rights during his lifetime.

"The negatives will only be transferred on my death,” he said. “In most respects, nothing has changed, except I now have great peace of mind for myself and my heirs that I will not be leaving behind a messy mountain of prints and negatives when I eventually fly with the angels.

"For the forseeable future, I hope and trust that it will be ‘business as usual’ for Michael Kenna Photography.”

Michael Kenna’s educational background includes Upholland College, Lancashire, The Banbury School of Art, Oxfordshire and The London College of Printing, London.

A record of Michael Kenna's original honour in 2000 featured in the Banbury Guardian

In 2007 his first UK retrospective was held at Banbury Museum. The intention had been for his father and stepmother, both in their mid 90s and living in Queensway, to attend but sadly both died during the planning process.

Kenna’s work has been shown in numerous gallery and museum exhibitions in the Asia, Australia, Europe and The United States and is included in such permanent collections as The National Gallery, Washington, DC; The Patrimoine Photographique, Paris; The Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague and The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

One of the most exhibited and collected photographers today, one of Kenna’s most ardent fans is Sir Elton John who wrote the preface A Journey Through Asia. Sir Elton has built a substantial collection of Kenna’s work, captivated by ‘the mystery of his night images and the sophisticated simplicity of his landscapes’.

See https://www.michaelkenna.com/