A collection of work by an artist who taught at the Royal College of Art more than a century ago is to be shown for the first time in his home town of Bingley.

The paintings of Walter C Foster, who died aged 42 in 1929, are to be exhibited at the Bingley Gallery in Park Road.

And it is all thanks to his grandson David Foster who is championing the work of his grandfather and the Aireville Group of artists who worked capturing the valley on canvas in the early 20th century.

Mr Foster believes his grandfather is one of the country’s forgotten artists, a man who honed his skills during the Art and Crafts era, one of the great artistic movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Mr Foster, a music publisher, said: “We don’t think he ever exhibited in Bingley even though it was his home town and he was living there right up to his death. There was nowhere to show work.

“I’m very pleased his work is coming back to Bingley to be exhibited.

“Grandfather lived in Oake Avenue, Bingley, where he had his studio with his wife and two sons.

“It was from there he went out to capture the Aire Valley.

“He also bought a small cottage in Stanbury in 1922 and spent a lot of time up there painting around Haworth and Stanbury.”

Mr Foster, 58, literally stumbled across his grandfather’s work in the attic of his family home about five years ago where it had languished undisturbed for more than 70 years.

So grief-stricken was Walter’s family at his premature death, they packed up his compositions, brushes and palette, and locked them away in the attic.

After discovering the work and learning more about Walter’s fellow artists working in the Aire valley, Mr Foster set out on a quest to revive their reputations.

Walter C Foster, who was a student at the Royal College of Art before he taught there in 1908, amassed a catalogue of paintings, much of which depicted the Aire and Worth valleys.

Among his collection are views of Druids Altar at Bingley, of Cottingley Bridge, Beckfoot and Ilkley Moor above Dick Hudsons pub. He returned to Bingley in 1908 and set up his studio, later becoming head teacher at Bingley School of Art.

Between 1911 and 1919 he exhibited at Cartwright Hall, Bradford, and also sold numerous paintings, employing an agent in London.

In 1924 he became headmaster of Shipley School of Art.

The exhibition runs from Saturday, January 9, until February 28.

e-mail: clive.white@telegraphandargus.co.uk