In 2017, Sue Savard, former Director of the Brockport Museum and Library of Local History, discovered a trunk filled with more than 100 oil paintings and illustrations by Brockport resident Helen Hastings. The collection is historically significant, and the scope of this body of work makes it especially unique.
Over the decades, the collection has suffered varying degrees of damage. Some pieces will require in-depth cleaning and restoration. The Village of Brockport has recently appointed Sarah Hart as Art Historian. Sarah will begin a formal study of the collection and spearhead a restoration project of the collection.
An original painting by Helen Mary Hastings (1871-1953), Spring Garden, has been adopted by Sarah and Benton Hart for professional restoration. They have contracted with Great Lakes Conservation in Grand Island, NY. The cost of restoration is approximately $3,200.
In addition, Sarah Hart is offering an art history class through the Memorial Art Gallery, about women learning portraiture in America in the late 1800s and early 1900s. This is a four-part series, with each session lasting 90 minutes. The class will focus on the time capsule of paintings and notebooks of Helen Hastings. Other classes will cover the history of portrait education, Helen’s famous teachers, and other American female painters who have also been discovered and the status of how they have been remembered. Visit https://mag.rochester.edu/creativeworkshop/classes for more details or to sign up.
The research that has been completed to date indicates that Helen was a landscape painter for a time, and she may have supported herself by working as an illustrator. Indeed, there is much to be learned about Helen and many mysteries to be unraveled.
The portrait accompanying this article is believed to be a self-portrait of Helen, completed while she was enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. Helen, the granddaughter of Brockport’s James Seymour, insisted that the former Seymour residence be used as a museum and library. Thanks to Helen, the building houses the Brockport Museum and Library of Local History today. Schedule a visit to learn more about Helen or to become involved in the restoration project. For hours of operation, visit https://brockporthistorymuseum.org.
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