SARAH CECILIA HARRISON Artist, Social Campaigner and City Councillor

“Sarah Cecilia Harrison (1863-1941) was a compelling woman who broke new ground – as an artist, an activist, a suffragist and as the first woman to be elected as a city councillor for Dublin in 1912 ... she earned herself a reputation as one of Ireland’s leading portraitists and her work was realistic and meticulous, and thus highly praised by fellow artists and in contemporary press reports ... Although she painted from life, her posthumous portraits, most notably of Michael Collins (1924-25) (OPW Collection) and Francis Sheehy Skeffingon (1916) (Hugh Lane Gallery) are well known. Both were painted from photographs and memory. Harrison gifted the portrait of Sheehy Skeffington to his widow, Hannah, and the Collins portrait was gifted to the State in 1925, where it hangs in the office of the Taoiseach to this day ... The range of activities in which she was engaged was quite remarkable. For over three decades, Harrison was a champion of the poor, unemployed and marginalised citizens in Dublin who frequently visited her at home. She was vocal in her criticism of any complacency on the part of the authorities to improve the working and living conditions of the working classes … Harrison died on July 23rd, 1941 at the age of 78. Her tombstone in Mount Jerome cemetery reads “Artist and Friend of the Poor” – a succinct epitaph for a woman who achieved so much in her life.”