Mary Cassatt exhibit at Art Institute aims to recreate lost mural from 1893 World's Fair

The 1893 World's Fair looms large in Chicago history.

Now, one of its groundbreaking works of art is a centerpiece of a new exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago — but there is one big problem.

At the heart of this exhibit at the Art Institute is a work that no longer exists.

"It's a tough problem for a curator to have, to center this story about a monumental mural without the mural," said Anneliise Madse with the Art Institute.

That mural, "Modern Woman" by Mary Cassatt, was from the 1893 World's Fair.

"It was Cassatt really scaling up her subject matter, what she had built her career portraying, the lives of everyday women, but giving that a sense of import, a sense of grandeur," Madse said.

Cassatt now has her own exhibit at the Art Institute, which aims to recreate the form and spirit of the long-lost mural.

"What we do have are a lot of enticing traces," Madse said. "We have archival material. We have reproductions of the mural that are in fair publications from the 1890s. We have letters by Cassatt."

The exhibit covers a lifetime of Cassatt's work beyond the missing mural — like the iconic painting, "The Child's Bath," from 1893.

"She was a fierce, independent woman and an artist of the time," Madse said. "I think she was, first of all, showing us the impact of human connection."

Her impact still felt, even through a mural that we can't see.

"It's a Chicago story, and we, for that reason alone, we must embrace it. It's part of the history of this city."

Mary Cassatt actually helped the art institute get one of its signature works — El Greco's "The Assumption of the Virgin."

In 1905, Cassatt wrote to the institute's president when the painting became available, saying it belonged there.  

Cassatt's exhibit runs through January 3, 2027.