Post Collection Restoration Project
South Plains College has undertaken a multi-year project to conserve the paintings in the Marjorie Merriweather Post Art Collection and restore them to museum quality. A conservation survey of the collection was conducted in September 2005 which has led to the development of a treatment plan for the collection.
Through the generosity of The CH Foundation and the Helen Jones Foundation, four paintings have received conservation treatment in Phase I and Phase II of the project. Grants from The CH Foundation provided for treatment to the Earl of Gower portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and an18th century Italian genre piece titled Bacchanalian Feast.
Grants from the Helen Jones Foundation provided treatment for the Caroline, Queen to George II portrait attributed to [?] Sir Godfrey Kneller, and an 18th century pastiche of Catherine the Great (artist unknown).
Most recently, the Helen Jones Foundation partnered with the South Plains College Foundation in a Phase III project to restore a 19th century nature study painting by German artist Carl Jutz, titled Birds in Landscape.
South Plains College is grateful to these private foundations for their assistance with the Post Restoration Project. The conservator for these projects has been Mark Van Gelder with Conservation Services of Austin.
The painting in most critical need of treatment is the painting by F. VanPaemel titled Flemish Countryside (1780). Because of the size of the painting and the extensive culping and crackling of the paint surface that needs to be corrected, cost to restore the painting will be significant.
If you would like to join us in our goal to restore all the paintings of the Post Collection, please contact the South Plains College Foundation at (806) 716-2019. Charitable contributions of any amount are welcomed and greatly appreciated.
For more information about the Post Art Restoration Project, contact:
Office of Institutional Advancement
South Plains College
1401 S. College Ave.
Levelland, TX 79336
(806) 716-2218, (806) 716-2217
Email: sjohn@southplainscollege.edu
