Self Portrait

Artist Sarah Cecilia Harrison (1863 - 1941)

Date1889

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions61 x 51.4 cm

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Donated by Captain Harrison, 1942.

Object number1604

DescriptionSarah Cecilia Harrison (1863 – 1941) was born in Co. Down. She trained at Slade Art School in London and spent some time in France painting in the artists’ colonies in Brittany and elsewhere. After moving to Dublin she earned herself a reputation as one of Ireland’s leading portraitists. Her work was meticulous and realistic. The artist Mary Swanzy described her as a “…careful, polished portrait painter”. She was a good friend of Hugh Lane, and worked closely with him in his attempt to establish a gallery of modern art in Dublin. She also compiled notes for the Gallery’s first catalogue in 1908. Harrison was the first woman to be elected a member of Dublin Corporation in 1912, spending much of her time working to improve the conditions of the poor and campaigning for women’s rights. At meetings she called for an inquiry into police brutality during the 1913 Lockout. She argued the case of slum dwellers before the Dublin housing inquiry
of 1914. After the death of Hugh Lane, she tirelessly supported the campaign for the return of the thirty-nine Lane Bequest pictures.

This self-portrait is one of several painted by Harrison, known to her friends and family as Celia. A second self-portrait, dating to the following year is also in the [Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane] collection (see Object Number 233). This work shows the artist, aged twenty-six, standing in three quarter view while working at her easel, although the latter is not seen in the painting. Cut off at the waist and wearing an elegant striped blouse she holds her palette and various brushes in her left hand, and the brush she is working with is in her right hand. With great attention to detail each of the brushes is loaded with paint. Harrison's head is turned to the viewer and her lips are slightly parted, as if she is greeting someone who has just entered the room.

The painting displays a crisp handling and controlled brushwork typical of her style. The work is in the tradition of academic portraiture. It reveals a good feeling for form and strong drawing. The deep blue background gives a sense of depth.

(Catalogue Entry [19]: A Century of Irish Painting - Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin, 1997, p. 147)

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