In her Des Moines studio, painting conservator Sara Boesen painstakingly reconstructed former University of Iowa President Oliver Spencer’s face after removing years of darkened varnish from his presidential portrait.
Boesen was commissioned to examine the damage to seven of the 20 paintings in the UI Presidential Portrait Gallery.
The university is slowly restoring the historical paintings, which date to the UI’s first president, Amos Dean, who served from 1855 to 1859. The paintings are displayed on the fifth floor of the UI Main Library.
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“With these examination reports, I was able to highlight any issues I saw within the pieces and what I would do to address them, as well as an estimate for the treatment,” she said.
John Culshaw, the university’s librarian since 2013, said the presidential collection was incomplete before the gallery opened in 2019.
“It didn't have either of our two female presidents, which was a problem to me,” which have since been added, he said. “And it just kind of looked like that there wasn't a lot of care about the gallery.”
The portraits were originally encased in plastic boxes, which were unsuitable to protect the art. They now are in frames under preservation glass, Culshaw said.
The UI chose to repair the portraits of former UI Presidents Spencer, who served from 1862 to 1867, and Josiah Pickard, the UI president from 1878 to 1887.
The restoration work cost around $11,000, paid for with donations, Culshaw said.
Boesen said the Pickard portrait took 10 hours to restore. It needed grime and varnish removed and refinishing, plus “in-painting” where the original paint was missing.
“The grime and the varnish really muted the painting, and now it really stands out again,” Boesen said.
For Spencer’s painting, Boesen said she used historic photos of him to treat the portrait’s damage. She removed two layers of old varnish and reconstructed his face, spending 30 hours on the restoration.
“I was able to kind of see how he wore his hair and the shape of his nose and his eyes and everything and use that to inform reconstructing his face, as well as the suggestions left behind from the original painting,” she said.
She speculated the Spencer portrait had previously been treated in the 1970s.
“I applied a new varnish and filled in any paint losses with commercial filler and texture to mimic the brush stroke,” she said. “You don't get as much body as you would with like an oil paint.”
Culshaw said the UI Libraries is working with the President’s Office to start painting the portraits during a president’s term, rather than after they depart.
The portrait of Bruce Harreld, president from 2015 to 2021, still is being worked on, he said. A portrait of current President Barbara Wilson is being discussed, he added.
The library also signed a memorandum of understanding with the new Stanley Museum of Art so the presidential portraits will be part of the university archives — a unit of the libraries.
“We collaboratively decided at that time that the library was a good place to do this,” he said. “There are other institutions where portraits of the presidents reside in the library.”
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Boesen was commissioned to examine the damage to seven of the 20 paintings in the UI Presidential Portrait Gallery.
The university is slowly restoring the historical paintings, which date to the UI’s first president, Amos Dean, who served from 1855 to 1859. The paintings are displayed on the fifth floor of the UI Main Library.
Advertisement
“With these examination reports, I was able to highlight any issues I saw within the pieces and what I would do to address them, as well as an estimate for the treatment,” she said.
John Culshaw, the university’s librarian since 2013, said the presidential collection was incomplete before the gallery opened in 2019.
“It didn't have either of our two female presidents, which was a problem to me,” which have since been added, he said. “And it just kind of looked like that there wasn't a lot of care about the gallery.”
The portraits were originally encased in plastic boxes, which were unsuitable to protect the art. They now are in frames under preservation glass, Culshaw said.
The UI chose to repair the portraits of former UI Presidents Spencer, who served from 1862 to 1867, and Josiah Pickard, the UI president from 1878 to 1887.
The restoration work cost around $11,000, paid for with donations, Culshaw said.
Boesen said the Pickard portrait took 10 hours to restore. It needed grime and varnish removed and refinishing, plus “in-painting” where the original paint was missing.
“The grime and the varnish really muted the painting, and now it really stands out again,” Boesen said.
For Spencer’s painting, Boesen said she used historic photos of him to treat the portrait’s damage. She removed two layers of old varnish and reconstructed his face, spending 30 hours on the restoration.
“I was able to kind of see how he wore his hair and the shape of his nose and his eyes and everything and use that to inform reconstructing his face, as well as the suggestions left behind from the original painting,” she said.
She speculated the Spencer portrait had previously been treated in the 1970s.
“I applied a new varnish and filled in any paint losses with commercial filler and texture to mimic the brush stroke,” she said. “You don't get as much body as you would with like an oil paint.”
What’s next?
Culshaw said the UI Libraries is working with the President’s Office to start painting the portraits during a president’s term, rather than after they depart.
The portrait of Bruce Harreld, president from 2015 to 2021, still is being worked on, he said. A portrait of current President Barbara Wilson is being discussed, he added.
The library also signed a memorandum of understanding with the new Stanley Museum of Art so the presidential portraits will be part of the university archives — a unit of the libraries.
“We collaboratively decided at that time that the library was a good place to do this,” he said. “There are other institutions where portraits of the presidents reside in the library.”
Des Moines artist restores paintings of 2 former UI presidents
Portraits of University of Iowa presidents are now on display on the fifth floor of the University of Iowa Main Library.
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