Work by Legendary USU Art Professor Restored and on Exhibit
The Alice Merrill Horne Gallery in the Glendinning Home has unveiled a new exhibition of recently conserved paintings from the State Fine Art Collection. Included is the work of a long-time Utah State University faculty member H. Reuben Reynolds.
“These works are significant to Utah’s history,” said Margaret Hunt, executive director of the Utah Arts Council. “Many of these works collected dirt and dust or required repairs to the canvas. Conservation was a necessary step in order to secure them for future generations.”
“These works are significant to Utah’s history,” said Margaret Hunt, executive director of the Utah Arts Council. “Many of these works collected dirt and dust or required repairs to the canvas. Conservation was a necessary step in order to secure them for future generations.”
The paintings include Reynolds’s “Clouds over Bear Lake,” Lee Greene Richards’s “Mrs. Bathsheba W. Smith,” Francis L. Horspool’s “Nature Freaks of Sculpture and Architecture in the Garden of Gods, Colorado” and John Hafen’s “Quaking Aspens.” The works were recently conserved by the Western Center for the Conservation of Fine Arts and the Dry Creek Gold Leaf Company, Restoration and Preservation of Antique Frames. The time-intensive process included a general cleaning of accumulated dirt, the repair of gouged and punctured canvases and the replacement of chipped or lost paint.
Funding for the artwork conservation was provided by an allocation from the Utah State Legislature.
H. Reuben “Harry” Reynolds (1898-1974) was born in Ohio and attended the Art Institute of Chicago, graduating in 1923. He joined the faculty at USU, then the Agricultural College of Utah, in 1923 as an art instructor. For the next 45 years he taught in the Art Department. His papers and a digital collection of his photographs are located at Special Collections and Archives in the Merrill-Cazier Library at USU (see links below).
Early in his career Reynolds was a painter, later earning a reputation as a photographer. Throughout his career he enhanced his education, traveling to Europe in 1930 to study and photograph sculpture, paintings and formal gardens. He promoted the arts in Utah and was involved in a number of civic activities — he was involved with the Utah State Fair and served on its board of directors from 1940 into the 1960s.
The exhibit is on display in the Alice Merrill Horne Gallery until April 2008. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Glendinning Home is located at 617 East South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah, and is home to the Utah Arts Council.
Related links:
- Utah Arts Council
- Alice Merrill Horne Gallery
- Harry Reuben Reynolds Papers, Special Collections and Archives
- H. Reuben Reynolds Photograph Collection, USU Special Collections and Archives
Contact: Lydia Durand, communications manager, Utah Arts Council (801) 236-7548
Contact: Claudia Nakano, director of communications, Utah Arts Council (801) 538-8805
Source: Utah Arts Council, Utah State University
Contact: Claudia Nakano, director of communications, Utah Arts Council (801) 538-8805
Source: Utah Arts Council, Utah State University
This painting, "Clouds Over Bear Lake," by legendary USU faculty member and artist H. Reuben Reynolds, has been restored and is on exhibit at the Alice Merrill Horne Gallery in Salt Lake City. The artwork is part of the state's Fine Art Collection.
This photograph by H.Reuben Reynolds of the Quad looking east to the old library was taken during the time he was a faculty member at Utah State University. (photo courtesy Merrill-Cazier Library Special Collections and Archives.)
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