Slater hosts exhibition about sculptor Bela Lyon Pratt
Slater Memorial Museum opens the exhibition “Bela Lyon Pratt: Sculptor of Monument” today with a reception from 1 to 3 p.m. that is free and open to the public.
Pratt (1867-1917) was a Norwich native who went on to become a renowned sculptor. In 1892, he created two large sculptural groups representing The Genius of Navigation for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
He also produced sculptures for the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901 and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Mo., in 1904. In 1893, he began a 25year career as an influential teacher of modeling at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
By 1894, he was being squired around his hometown by William Albert Slater, who toyed with the idea of commissioning Pratt to create a statue for the Slater Memorial, but settled for a bas-relief portrait of his children, Eleanor and Willie.
Pratt received numerous commissions for monumental public work and portrait busts for leaders of educational and cultural institutions around New England. He designed the figures representing Art and Science for the Boston Public Library; Literature, Science and Art for the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress; the Andersonville Boy on the grounds of the State Capitol, Hartford; Nathaniel Hawthorne in Salem, Mass.; and Captain Nathan Hale for Yale University.
The exhibition at Slater will feature 50 sculptural works and two-dimensional works of art, text and archival material.
It runs through Jan. 15, with a special event on Dec. 10, which is the artist’s brithday.
The museum is part of the Norwich Free Academy, 108 Crescent St., Norwich. Hours are 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tues.-Fri. and 1-4 p.m. Sat. and Sun.; (860) 887-2506.