One of the sculptors who contributed to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago is the subject of a new exhibition at the Slater Memorial Museum in Norwich, Connecticut. “Bela Lyon Pratt: Sculptor of Monument,” which opened on October 15, 2017, and runs through January 15, 2018, showcases “50 sculptural works and two-dimensional works of art, text and archival material” from the Norwich native.

One of two sculptural groupings of The Genius of Navigation by Bela Pratt.

For the 1893 World’s Fair, Bela Pratt (1867-1917) created two large sculptural groups titled The Genius of Discovery. Each grouping shows a trio of figures on the projecting prow of a vessel. One pair of sculptures sat on either side of the Peristyle’s central arch and faced the Grand Basin just behind the Statue of the Republic, while a second pair flanked the arch’s eastern side and greeted fair-goers arriving by watercraft on Lake Michigan.

The Genius of Discovery was among the earliest public works of Pratt, who went on to have an illustrious career in sculpture. Many of his works remain on display today. A bronze casting of his Nathan Hale stands outside of Tribune Tower on Michigan Avenue in Chicago; other castings of this statue are installed at Yale University and at the Central Intelligence Agency and Department of Justice buildings in Washington, DC.