Prolific Chicago sculptor Richard Hunt dies, aged 88

Melissa Alonso and Susannah Cullinane, CNN
·3 min read
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Chicago sculptor Richard Hunt—a prolific artist whose public art explored civil rights—died Saturday aged 88, according to his official website.

Hunt “passed away peacefully… at his home,” an obituary on the site said. No cause of death was given.

Hunt’s “prolific art career spanned nearly seven decades,” according to his obituary, with metal sculptures by the artist seen in museums and public spaces across the United States.

“Despite challenges for African-American artists during his lifetime, Hunt held over 150 solo exhibitions and is represented in more than 100 public museums across the globe,” it said.

Hunt was the descendant of slaves and grew up on the South Side of Chicago, according to the site. His father was a barber and his mother was the city’s first Black librarian.

In 1953, Hunt was inspired by the “Sculpture of the Twentieth Century” exhibition held at the Art Institute of Chicago, which featured metal sculptures by artists including Picasso and Giacometti, the obituary says. The then-teenager went on to focus on sculpture while studying at the School of Art Institute in Chicago from 1953 to 1957.

In 1955, Hunt witnessed the open casket funeral of Emmett Till, who had grown up just blocks from where Hunt had been born and was abducted and lynched in Mississippi, the website said.

“Hunt went on to create art shaped by this experience, which influenced both his artistic expression and his commitment to the cause of Civil Rights,” according to his website.

Shortly before his death, the artist had completed the model for a monument to Till that will be installed at Till’s childhood home, the obituary said: “It will commemorate Till and the tragic event that gave rise to the modern Civil Rights movement and to shaping the career of the sculptor, Richard Hunt.”

An art piece by African American abstract sculptor and artist Richard Hunt seen in the lobby at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. - Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty Images
An art piece by African American abstract sculptor and artist Richard Hunt seen in the lobby at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. - Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Hunt received national recognition in 1957 when the Museum of Modern Art in New York acquired his 1956 work “Arachne.”

Over his career, Hunt received 18 honorary degrees, held over 20 professorships and artists residencies and received more than 30 awards, the site says.

He was the first African American visual artist to serve on the National Council on the Arts – appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968, the site says. This year, Illinois First Lady MK Pritzker declared April 24, 2023, “Richard Hunt Day” to celebrate his achievements.

But, his obituary said, Hunt saw artistic freedom as the most important part of his career.

“I am interested more than anything else in being a free person,” he is quoted as saying. “To me, that means that I can make what I want to make, regardless of what anyone else thinks I should make.”

The artist is survived by his daughter, Cecilia, and his sister, Marian, according to the obituary.

Hunt will be remembered at a private funeral service in Chicago, with a public “celebration of art and life” to take place in the city in spring, his website says.

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