DOI issue:
Nr. 228 (February 1916)
DOI article:Munson Bryant, Lorinda: Bela Lyon Pratt: an appreciation
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43460#0423
Bela Lyon Pratt: An Appreciation
When the sculptor with the courage of a born
genius takes an old theme, of which the artists
of the past have left masterpieces, and strikes a
new note, he proves his originality. Never in
picture or statue has the nascent spirit of worship
represented such child-like faith as Bela Pratt
has portrayed in his group of St. Christopher and
the Christ Child. Offero, a barbarian of gigantic
proportions, has instinctive longings for a master
an old theme, but a theme that is ever new, for
Echo is still under the ban of Artemis and speaks
only in answer, and yet womanlike has her
revenge in the last word. Exquisitely beautiful
is the warm, pliable flesh of this bewitching
maiden; the arm pressed to the soft bosom, fairly
quivers under the pulsing veins and arteries.
How shy and expectant the face is? Perhaps she
has just whispered her faint “Here!” in answer
who fears no one.
to the bold words
He first serves a
great prince only
to find him ruled
by the devil and
in turn the devil,
trembling with
fear at the road
shrine, Offero
finds a coward
before the Man
of the Cross. But
Offero having re-
fused topray was
willing to work
and, after forty
years of carry-
ing people over
a swollen stream
without losing a
life, suddenly
found himself
perishing under
the burden of a
little child. Mr.
Pratt has chosen
the moment
when Offero rec-
ognises in the
little child the
Divine Master
and learns that
from henceforth
Owned, by Mrs. A. C. Wheelwright, of Boston
ECHO
BY BELA L. PRATT
of Narcissus,
“Who’s here?”
It is the same
old story—the
woman waiting
for the message,
yet reluctant to
give her answer.
How well is in-
terpreted the law
of courtship, a
law as old as the
human race.
The love of
nature is evi-
dently inherent
in Mr. Pratt and
can be traced at
least to hisgreat-
grandfather. In
proof of this we
have his long
years of patient
toil that come
to fruition in the
ownership of the
old estate in the
heart of the
Connecticut
hills, once owned
by his great-
grandfather but
he is to be Christ-Offero. Simple and childlike
the story, but Mr. Pratt has made it the sim-
plicity of a mind seeking truth and the childlike
attitude of one whose reason gives place to faith.
In strong contrast to the rugged muscular de-
velopment of St. Christopher is the elastic quality
that permeates the body and limbs of the beauti-
ful Echo. One suggests the strength of Michel-
angelo and the other shows that the artist has
also worshipped at the feet of Praxiteles. Again
since gone out of the family. And now again
the boyhood sport is his of resting by the moun-
tain stream—only now it is his pleasure to
whip the stream for trout and cast a fly. His
home in winter is in the suburbs of Boston,
Lakeville Place, Jamaica Plain, but to find him at
work we must seek him in his studio in the city.
His wholesome genius has produced an art
free from the vagaries of the restless seeker for
something new. It is the verities of life that
cxxiv
When the sculptor with the courage of a born
genius takes an old theme, of which the artists
of the past have left masterpieces, and strikes a
new note, he proves his originality. Never in
picture or statue has the nascent spirit of worship
represented such child-like faith as Bela Pratt
has portrayed in his group of St. Christopher and
the Christ Child. Offero, a barbarian of gigantic
proportions, has instinctive longings for a master
an old theme, but a theme that is ever new, for
Echo is still under the ban of Artemis and speaks
only in answer, and yet womanlike has her
revenge in the last word. Exquisitely beautiful
is the warm, pliable flesh of this bewitching
maiden; the arm pressed to the soft bosom, fairly
quivers under the pulsing veins and arteries.
How shy and expectant the face is? Perhaps she
has just whispered her faint “Here!” in answer
who fears no one.
to the bold words
He first serves a
great prince only
to find him ruled
by the devil and
in turn the devil,
trembling with
fear at the road
shrine, Offero
finds a coward
before the Man
of the Cross. But
Offero having re-
fused topray was
willing to work
and, after forty
years of carry-
ing people over
a swollen stream
without losing a
life, suddenly
found himself
perishing under
the burden of a
little child. Mr.
Pratt has chosen
the moment
when Offero rec-
ognises in the
little child the
Divine Master
and learns that
from henceforth
Owned, by Mrs. A. C. Wheelwright, of Boston
ECHO
BY BELA L. PRATT
of Narcissus,
“Who’s here?”
It is the same
old story—the
woman waiting
for the message,
yet reluctant to
give her answer.
How well is in-
terpreted the law
of courtship, a
law as old as the
human race.
The love of
nature is evi-
dently inherent
in Mr. Pratt and
can be traced at
least to hisgreat-
grandfather. In
proof of this we
have his long
years of patient
toil that come
to fruition in the
ownership of the
old estate in the
heart of the
Connecticut
hills, once owned
by his great-
grandfather but
he is to be Christ-Offero. Simple and childlike
the story, but Mr. Pratt has made it the sim-
plicity of a mind seeking truth and the childlike
attitude of one whose reason gives place to faith.
In strong contrast to the rugged muscular de-
velopment of St. Christopher is the elastic quality
that permeates the body and limbs of the beauti-
ful Echo. One suggests the strength of Michel-
angelo and the other shows that the artist has
also worshipped at the feet of Praxiteles. Again
since gone out of the family. And now again
the boyhood sport is his of resting by the moun-
tain stream—only now it is his pleasure to
whip the stream for trout and cast a fly. His
home in winter is in the suburbs of Boston,
Lakeville Place, Jamaica Plain, but to find him at
work we must seek him in his studio in the city.
His wholesome genius has produced an art
free from the vagaries of the restless seeker for
something new. It is the verities of life that
cxxiv