Sarah Cecilia Harrison Essay Prize 2025

New research and writing telling the stories of women in Ireland's visual culture 

Sarah Cecilia Harrison (1863–1941) was an accomplished artist and curator, as well as an advocate of social reform and women’s rights in Ireland in the early twentieth century.

The Gallery acquired the Sarah Cecilia Harrison archive in 2019. Comprising over 400 letters from Sir Hugh Lane to the artist, the archive (dating from 1905–1915) provides insight into the world in which both Lane and Harrison lived and worked.

To mark the launch of the Sarah Cecilia Harrison archive to the public, and in honour of Harrison’s legacy in the arts and as a social campaigner, the National Gallery of Ireland established the Sarah Cecilia Harrison Essay Prize in art history, recognising the best new research and writing on the history of women in the visual arts in Ireland. 

Winner of the 2025 Sarah Cecilia Harrison Essay Prize 

The winner of this year's prize was announced at a ceremony here on 13 November. Deirdre Kelly won for her essay, Kathleen Fox: Chronicler of Irish History.

Read Deirdre's award-winning essay here. 

Deirdre Kelly is an independent art historian and Library Assistant with Limerick City and County Public Library Service. She completed a PhD at the University of Limerick in 2016 on the ‘dream’ imagery of the Irish Revivalist writer and artist, George AE Russell. She has published several articles on AE in Irish Arts Review and Artefact, the journal of Irish art historians.

Two runners-up were also acknowledged by the judges: 

• Biddy Scott, Finding La Monte – Elish Lamont (1816-70)
• Meabh Scahill, “Non-Resident”: Phoebe Anna Traquair and the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement
    

This prize is generously supported by the descendants of the sister of Sarah Cecilia Harrison, Beatrice Chisholm.

Previous winners

2024

• Winner: Ella Sloane. Read her winning essay ‘The education of the work-girls’: Evaluating Dún Emer’s educational objective through the literary and visual material of Leabhar Dún Éimire here.
• Runners-up: Anne Marie Saliba and Lian Bell.

2023

• Winner: John Christopher Vaughan. Read his winning essay In the Mood for God: Colour and Mysticism in the Art of Mary Swanzy here.
• Runners-up: Paula Arning and Marie Kelly

2022

• Winner: Chiara Harrison Lambe. Read her winning essay, Stella Steyn (1907-1987): 'A Name to Remember' here.
• Runners-up: Niamh Flood and Mary Morrissy. 

The Gallery's Library and Archive

The Gallery’s Library and Archive include important and valuable collections of research material held at the Centre for the Study of Irish Art (CSIA), Yeats Archive and Gallery's institutional archives. These collections support the study and scholarly interpretation of visual art in Ireland.

The central role played by women artists in the development and dissemination of modernist art in Ireland is well documented. However, the broader story of women artists in Ireland and their achievements has often been forgotten, or viewed as ancillary to the standard canon.

In 2019 the Gallery acquired the Sarah Cecilia Harrison archive. Comprising over 400 letters from Sir Hugh Lane to the artist, the archive (dating from 1905–1915) provides insight into the world in which both Lane and Harrison lived and worked. This important collection is now fully catalogued and digitised and available to researchers on source.ie. 

Archives and primary research are essential to understanding and revealing these stories. Through the development of our collections, engagement and learning programmes, the Library and Archives department, including the CSIA, has worked to promote Irish women artists as well as female-led collectives and industries.