Suffragists’ portraits and stories celebrated in exhibition at History Center

ITHACA, N.Y. — The portraits and stories of unsung women who fought for suffrage will be on display at the History Center for an upcoming exhibition celebrating the centennial of women’s right to vote in New York.

Artist Christine Nobles Heller, formerly of Ithaca, has created portraits and large murals of suffragists for the upcoming exhibition, “Truth is the Only Safe Ground to Stand Upon,” part of “Portraits of Suffragists to Celebrate the Centennial of Women’s Right to Vote in New York State.” The exhibition will run from Saturday to Nov. 4.

On Tuesday, the public could stop by to watch Heller sketch large murals of suffragists Matilda Joslyn Gage and Louisa Lord Riley in charcoal onto a gray wall visible to visitors as the first walk into the History Center. What got Heller drawing suffragists, specifically from New York, was the Hillary Clinton campaign.

“I kept thinking ‘Wow she got this far in her campaign and there must be so many women we don’t even know about who helped sort of pave the way, not help her maybe specifically,’ so I went right back to the suffragists,” Heller said.

While suffragists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony are well known historical figures, Heller said she discovered hundreds of lesser-known women who took part in the movement. Her drawings also happened to coincide with the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote in New York.

The portraits she chose to draw were somewhat limited by the quality of photographs available. Heller said she put some of her own interpretation into her portraits based on what she felt the woman did in her life. While the photograph available of Matilda Joslyn Gage is somewhat soft and limited in detail in places, Heller sharpened her features and brightened her eyes.

“The focus really was to make these women sort of intensely here with us,” Heller said.

Gage, who lived from 1826 to 1898, was an abolitionist, suffragist and writer. She became president of both the National Woman Suffrage Association and the New York State Woman Suffrage Association and collaborated with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton on “The History of Woman Suffrage.” She believed Church teachings on women’s inferiority were the greatest obstacle to women’s progress, and because of that was accused of hating God and religion. Because of her anti-Church stance, Gage was virtually written out of the women’s suffrage movement.

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Heller’s work often focuses on social activism. She has created portraits and murals that reflect her concern about human suffering and social inequality. Heller has constructed three installations about the Iraq War. She has also created murals about the Syrian refugee crisis.