Bela Pratt
Portrait of Bela Pratt (1918) by Howard E. Smith
Born	(1867-12-11)December 11, 1867 Norwich, Connecticut, United States
Died	May 17, 1917(1917-05-17) (aged 49) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Sculptor

Bela Lyon Pratt (December 11, 1867 – May 18, 1917) was an Americansculptor fromConnecticut.

Pratt was born inNorwich, Connecticut, to Sarah (Whittlesey) and George Pratt, a Yale-educated lawyer. His maternal grandfather, Oramel Whittlesey, was apianoforte maker and founder in 1835 ofMusic Vale Seminary in Salem, Connecticut, the first music school in the country authorized to confer degrees to teach music.^[1][2] At 16, Pratt began studying at theYale University School of Fine Arts, where his teachers includedJohn Henry Niemeyer (1839–1932) andJohn Ferguson Weir (1841–1926).

After graduating from Yale, he enrolled at theArt Students League of New York where he took classes fromWilliam Merritt Chase (1849–1916),Kenyon Cox (1859–1919),Francis Edwin Elwell (1858–1922), and most important,Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907), who became his mentor. After a short stint in Saint-Gaudens' private studio, Pratt traveled to Paris, where he trained with sculptorsHenri-Michel-Antoine Chapu (1833–1891) andAlexandre Falguière (1831–1900) at theÉcole des Beaux-Arts.

In 1892, he returned to the United States to create two large sculptural groups representingThe Genius of Navigation for theWorld's Columbian Exposition inChicago. He also produced sculptures for thePan-American Exposition atBuffalo in 1901. In 1893, he began a 25-year career as an influential teacher of modeling in theSchool of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. One of Pratt's most famous students at the School wasJohn A. Wilson. During this time, Pratt sculpted a series of busts of Boston's intellectual community, including Episcopal ministerPhillips Brooks (1899, Brooks House,Harvard University), Colonel Henry Lee (1902, Memorial Hall,Harvard University), andBoston Symphony Orchestra founderHenry Lee Higginson (1909,Symphony Hall, Boston). He became an associate of theNational Academy in 1900.(1)

When Saint-Gaudens' uncompleted group for the entrance to theBoston Central Library was rejected, Pratt was awarded a commission for personifications of Art and Science. Pratt continued Saint-Gaudens' influence in coin design after 1907. His gold Indian Headhalf ($5) andquarter ($2.50) eagle gold U.S. coins are known as the "Pratt coins" and feature an unusual intaglio Indian head, the U.S. mint's only recessed design in circulation. A memorial exhibition of 125 of his sculptures was held at theMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston in the spring of 1918.^[3]

From1898-1917 Pratt ran the sculpture department at the Massachusetts Normal School, which eventually became the School of the Museum of Fine Arts) along withCyrus Dallin.^[4] Pratt's students includedFrederick Warren Allen,Hazel Brill Jackson,^[5][6]Daisy Blanche King,^[7]Bashka Paeff, andRichard Henry Recchia, as well as his sonDudley Pratt.

• 1892The Genius of Navigation –World's Columbian Exposition
• 1892The Genius of Discovery –World's Columbian Exposition
• 1893Clara and Lizzie, Daughters of Frederick and Elizabeth Shattuck (plaque) –National Gallery of Art
• 1895Literature, Science, Art (Spandrel figures)Thomas Jefferson Building,Library of Congress,Washington, DC
• 1896The Four Seasons (plaques) – 2nd floor pavilions, Thomas Jefferson Building,Library of Congress
• 1896Figure of Victory - #1 turret U.S.S. Massachusetts, (Sculpture now housed at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland).
• 1897Dr. Henry Augustus Coit –St. Paul's School,Concord,New Hampshire
• 1902General Benjamin Franklin Butler Monument - Hildreth Cemetery, Lowell, Massachusetts
• 1902Colonel Henry Lee -Memorial Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts^[8]
• 1906Young Soldier –St. Paul's School,Concord, New Hampshire
• 1907Andersonville Boy – State Capitol Grounds,Hartford, Connecticut^[9]
• 1908Abraham Lincoln Monument – Lowell, Massachusetts
• 1910Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument,Bell Rock Memorial Park,Malden, Massachusetts
• 1910Nathaniel Hawthorne –Salem, Massachusetts
• 1910Art w/palette right,Science w/sphere left,Boston Central Library,Boston, Massachusetts
• 1911Army Nurses Memorial,Massachusetts State House, Boston
• 1913The Whaleman –New Bedford, Massachusetts
• 1913Edward Everett Hale –Boston Public Garden,Boston, Massachusetts
• 1913Schoolboy of 1850 – Ashburnham, Massachusetts^[10]
• 1914Grieving Mother -Washington Memorial Chapel,Valley Forge National Historical Park, Pennsylvania
• 1914Nathan Hale –Yale University
  • Cast at theCentral Intelligence Agency, Quantico, Virginia
  • Cast at theDepartment of Justice Building, Washington, D.C.
  • Cast at theChicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois
  • Cast atFort Nathan Hale, New Haven, Connecticut
• 1916ReverendPhillips Brooks, Old Common,North Andover, Massachusetts

• 
  Genius of Navigation (1893), World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Illinois
• 
  Genius of Discovery (1893), World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Illinois
• 
  Figure of Victory (1896), #1 turret U.S.S. Massachusetts
• 
  General Butler Monument (1902), Lowell, Massachusetts
• 
  Young Soldier (1906), St. Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire
• 
  Andersonville Boy (1907), State Capitol grounds, Hartford, Connecticut
• 
  Relief Portrait of Abraham Lincoln (1908), Lowell, Massachusetts
• 
  Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument (1910), Malden, Massachusetts
• 
  Nathaniel Hawthorne (1910), Salem, Massachusetts
• 
  Edward Everett Hale (1913), Boston Public Garden
• 
  Grieving Mother (1914), Washington Memorial Chapel, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
• 
  Captain Nathan Hale (1914), Chicago Tribune Building, Chicago, Illinois
• 
  The bas relief plaque honors a student who died in World War I by Bela Pratt atSt. Paul's School inConcord, NH
• 
  Boston_Public_Library,_Science_Bela_L_Pratt_Statue_at_Entrance_(NBY_21577)
• 
  Art_Bela_L_Pratt_Statue_at_Entrance_Boston_Public_Library_(NBY_21244)
• 
  Oyster server adaptation of Bela Pratt's Art Sculpture featuring Tabasco Sauce, lemon and oysters on the half shell.

• Downes, William Howe. "The Work of Bela L. Pratt, Sculptor."New England Magazine 27 (February 1903): 760–771.
• Coburn, Frederick W. "Americanism in Sculpture. As Represented in the Works of Bela Lyon Pratt."Palette and Bench 2, nos. 5 and 6 (February–March 1910): 95–97, 127–131.
• Dorr, Charles Henry. "Bela L. Pratt: An Eminent New England Sculptor."Architectural Record 35, no. 6 (June 1914): 508–518.
• Obituary,The New York Times (May 19, 1917).
• Taft, Lorado.The History of American Sculpture, New York, 1924: 491–496.

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