Richard Hunt
Individual Works
b. 1935 Chicago, IL Lives and works in Chicago
Richard Hunt (b. 1935, USA) is one of the most accomplished American metal sculptors of the past century. His work has been exhibited 12 times at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, including a solo retrospective in 1971, when the artist was only 35 years old. Titled The Sculpture of Richard Hunt, March 25–July 9, 1971, this was only the third solo exhibition for a black artist in the history of MoMA. (The first was Sculpture by William Edmondson, October 20–December 1, 1937, and the second was Paintings by Jacob Lawrence, October 10–November 5, 1944.)
One of the elements of his work that so resonates with admirers is the way Hunt blends natural and architectonic forms. This is an outgrowth of Hunt’s mixture of urban upbringing with his family’s rural roots in the south and midwest. His father emigrated north during the Great Migration, which saw the movement of six million African Americans out of the southern United States beginning in 1916. The migration was largely caused by intolerable life conditions brought about by Jim Crow laws, which lasted roughly from the end of the Civil War until the 1960s. Hunt’s mother was raised in rural Illinois. For brief periods while growing up, Hunt returned to the countryside with his family. Those experiences instilled a deep love of nature in him, and inform many of the natural shapes that he incorporates into his work. His distinctive language of forms combines those natural influences with the architectonic aesthetic of the city.
In the realm of large-scale works, Hunt has established himself as very possibly the most productive public sculptor in the United States. His more than 125 public sculptures grace everything from the grassy sweeps of idyllic public parks to the imposing facades of steel and glass skyscrapers. He has been commissioned by corporations, hospitals, museums, municipalities, universities and athletic organizations. One of his proudest recent accomplishments is the welded bronze sculpture “Swing Low” (2016), which hangs in the lobby of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC, the newest Smithsonian institution.
Selected Solo Shows
2017 Framed and Extended, The Studio museum in Harlem, New York, NY
2014 San Antonio Botanical Gardens, San Antonio, TX
2013 Galesburg Civic Art Center, Galesburg, IL
Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum, Saginaw Valley State, University, Saginaw, MI
2012 Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL
Brauer Museum of Art, Valparaiso, IN
2011 David Findlay Jr Gallery, New York, New York
2010 Willis Tower, Chicago, Illinois
515 North State, Chicago, Illinois
Belian Art Center, Troy, Michigan
ThinkArt Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
2009 Savannah College of Art and Design Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia
David Weinberg Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Art & Design Gallery, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan
2008 The Sculpture Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart, Indiana
2007 Lubeznik Art Center, Michigan City, Indiana
Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, Illinois
2006 Worthington Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
2004 H.C. Taylor Gallery, North Carolina A&T University, Greensboro, North Carolina
2001 Noel Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina
Art Foundry Gallery, Sacramento, California
Koehnline Museum of Art, Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, Illinois
2000 Illinois State Museum, Chicago, Illinois
Frederik Meijer Sculpture Garden, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Foundry Gallery, Sacramento, California
1999 Laumeier Sculpture Park, St Louis, Missouri
Museum of Art, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah
Turman Gallery, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana
1998 Museum of African-American History, Detroit, Michigan
Illinois State Museum, Chicago and Springfield,, Illinois
Lakeside Gallery, Lakeside, Michigan
Holland Area Arts Council, Holland, Michigan
Worthington Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Detroit, Michigan
1997 Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, New York
Andre Zarre Gallery, New York, New York
1996 Worthington Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Snite Museum, Notre Dame University, Notre Dame, Indiana
Addison/Ripley Fine Art, Washington, DC
1995 Worthington Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Detroit, Michigan
1994 Woodlot Gallery, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
University Museum, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale,
Illinois
1993 Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, Nevada
1992 Shidoni Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
1991 Gwenda Jay Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Louis Newman Gallery, Los Angeles, California
Charles H Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit,
Michigan
1990 Kalamazoo Institute of Art, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Printworks Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan
1989 Dorsky Galleries, New York, New York
1988 USIS Touring Exhibit organized by the Los Angeles Museum of African American Art, traveled to the West African cities of Lagos, Monrovia, Accra Cotonou, Lome, Dakar, and Abidjan.
1987 Century City, Los Angeles, California
DeGraff Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Dorsky Galleries, New York, New York
1986 Columbia College Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio
Terry Dintenfass Gallery, New York, New York
1984 Fairweather-Hardin Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Terry Dintenfass Gallery, New York, New York
1985 G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Detroit, Michigan
Martin Gallery, Washington, DC
1983 Terry Dintenfass Gallery, New York, New York
1982 Miami University Art Museum, Oxford, Ohio
1981 Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, Missouri
1979 Dorsky Galleries, New York, New York
Cultural Activities Center, Temple, Texas
Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, Kansas
1978 Frances Wolfson Art Center, Miami-Dade Community College, Miami, Florida
Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina
Washington University and Laumeier Sculpture Park, St Louis, Missouri
The Art Center, Waco, Texas
1977Dorsky Galleries, New York, New York
1976 BC Holland Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Dorsky Galleries, New York, New York
Sears Bank and Trust Company, Chicago, Illinois
1975 Dorsky Galleries, New York, New York
University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, Iowa
1973 Dorsky Galleries, New York, New York
Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana
1971 Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (Retrospective)
Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York (Retrospective)
Dorsky Galleries, New York, New York
1970 Dorsky Galleries, New York, New York
BC Holland Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1969 Dorsky Galleries, New York, New York
1968Dorsky Galleries, New York, New York
BC Holland Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1967Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Retrospective)
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
1966Ohio State University School of Art, Columbus, Ohio
BC Holland Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1965 Occidental College, Los Angeles, California
Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1963 BC Holland Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Alan Gallery, New York, New York
1960 Alan Gallery, New York, New York
1958 Alan Gallery, New York, New York
Videos