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Art restoration uncovers previous retouching by Sarah Vaughn, staff writer “Historic Paintings Returned to SPC After Restoration” Two historic paintings from South Plains College’s Marjorie M. Post Art Collection recently underwent extensive restorations, restoring the portraits to museum quality. Grants from the CH Foundation and the Helen Jones Foundation funded the restoration. The paintings, Granville, 2nd Earl of Gower, and Caroline, Queen of George II, were shipped to Austin-based Conservator Mark Van Gelder and were returned in October. “Mr. Van Gelder works a lot with the portraits in the capitol,” said Stephen John, vice president for institutional advancement. “We felt like he had the credentials necessary to work on these two paintings.” Van Gelder received the paintings during the first week of May and began the restoration process. As he worked on the paintings, two significant things were uncovered about the Caroline painting. According to John, when Post purchased the Caroline painting at auction, the portrait had been attributed to Allan Ramsay, but with a question mark beside his name. Van Gelder discovered on the wooden ‘stretcher’ frame of the painting, attribution to another artist from that time period. “[Van Gelder] found an old, hand-written label that had faded so much, that it was almost unreadable,” said John. “And it was in a penmanship for a script that could have been late 18th century, early 19th century. Also, the ink that was used was very common for that period of time. Using ultraviolet and infrared photography, he was able to discern what the label said, and the label attributes the painting to Sir Godfrey Kneller, who was the court painter from Charles II to George II.” Van Gelder described the second important discovery on the Caroline painting as the subject of the painting being ‘Barbie-dolled.’ The painting had been retouched, not only changing the color of the curtains in the background, but also creating a ‘prettier’ portrait, possibly in an attempt to raise the selling price. “She was made to look prettier than what she was,” said John. “There was shading under her chin to get rid of a pronounced double-chin.” The tip of a shoe had also been added to the painting, peaking out from under the hem of Caroline’s gown. John said that at that time, it was a common compositional element that artists used to make their subjects appear taller, and in this case, probably more slender. “What emerged was someone that looked a lot different than what was in the previous picture,” said John, “but that was clearly an image of a much younger Caroline. ” The college has plans to restore all eight of the pieces in the Post collection, and has already sent a third painting, Flemish Countryside, to a conservator for work. “We did the two royals [first] because they’re the finest two pieces in the collection, and we didn’t want them to be gone longer than they had to be,” said Ippy Greer, Post Collection curator at SPC. “The Dutch piece [Flemish Countryside] was by far in the worst condition.” Greer explained that Flemish Countryside is a large painting, measuring approximately 12 feet by 10 feet, and to ship the painting required it to be placed within a specialized shipping frame. “I expect it will take at least a year, because it is in such bad condition,” said Greer. “And those things cannot be hurried. They literally work one square inch at a time to do this whole piece. So when it comes back, it’s going to be transformed. I’m really very curious to see what it’s going to look like, because it’s seen some real rough times.” The Post Collection has been an important part of the college for about 40 years. Prior to the renovations of the Fine Arts Building, the paintings had never been shown together. They had been scattered in various locations on campus. When SPC first received the paintings, during the 1960s, the two royals and the Bacchanalian Feast were placed in the foyer of the Library. At the time, smoking was allowed in the foyer, and the paintings were not protected behind glass. “Things were even splashed on the pieces,” said Greer. “They clearly didn’t understand what they had.” The Post Collection was last valued at $300,000 in 2006, but as a result of the recent renovations, especially in light of the discovery that Caroline’s painter is probably Kneller, the collection will most likely receive a higher value when reappraised. Jon Johnson, who served as chairperson of the Fine Arts Department from 1988 to 2009, said that the college began looking at restoration about three years ago when an art restorer viewed the pieces and determined they were very discolored. Around the same time, a student editor on the Plainsman Press staff, Ruth Bradley, wrote an article, that Johnson said refocused attention on the paintings. “It called attention to the collection,” said Johnson, “where it had come from, and it ran just prior to the planning stages of the renovations [to the Fine Arts Building].” Johnson said that he hopes that in the future more of the history of the paintings can be revealed, in addition to the restorations of the works. “I think we’re going to try to get an art historian to look at them,” said Johnson. “There are some questions about who the paintings are attributed to.”
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Foreign Language Festival set for Nov. 6 by Kayla Smith, staff writer South Plains College will host the 18th Annual Foreign Language Festival on Nov. 6. The event will be held from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on the Levelland campus. When asked for a brief description of the event, festival director, Dr. Valerie Job, replied, “There is no such thing!” It has categories ranging from dancing to written tests.” The event showcases the talents of more than 450 area Spanish and ESL high school students. “It is not as harsh as UIL, but it is similar in many ways,” Dr, Job said. The competitions will be featured in the Library, Communications Building, Helen DeVitt Jones Theatre for the Performing Arts, Snack Bar Area and Founder’s Room in the Student Center. The festival includes Arts and Crafts, Ensemble events, Written Tests, Individual events, and Command Performances. Individual events include: prose declamation, poetry recitation, extemporaneous speaking; and TV broadcasting. Group events include skits, puppets, and dance. Lunch will be provided. Awards will be given, with blue ribbons for each earned Superior rating, and red ribbons for each earned Excellent rating. Dr. Job, who has been directing the festival for 14 years, said, “It is really cool for kids to network in a safe environment, and I love bringing them to South Plains. It is fun and also helps students with achieving goals of polishing their Spanish speaking skills and culture.” “It is a labor of love, and takes all of us to make it work from custodial to administration workers,” adds Dr. Job.
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