CHICAGO– Richard Hunt, a prolific Chicago artist who was the first black sculptor to receive a solo retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and whose public works received critical acclaim from presidents, has died at the age of 88.
Hunt “passed away peacefully” at his home on Saturday, according to a statement on his website. No cause of death was given.
During his career, Hunt created more than 160 commissioned public works of art that are exhibited nationwide, including in libraries and college campuses. In Chicago, his 10-meter-high stainless steel 'Flight Forms' is located at Midway International Airport. In 2021, his bronze-columned monument honoring the late civil rights icon Ida B. Wells was dedicated in the city's Bronzeville neighborhood.
“Richard's legacy will live on for generations,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement Saturday evening. “He is a lifelong Chicagoan and his extraordinary career spanning seven decades has had an indelible impact on our city and our world.”
More than 100 of Hunt's pieces are on display in museums around the world. This includes the 1,500-pound bronze monument called “Swing Low” at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. The sculpture, an ode to the spiritual spirit of the same name, hangs from the ceiling on the first floor.
Hunt, a native of the city's South Side, was 19 when he went to the open-casket funeral of Emmett Till, a black teenage lynching victim. Hunt later said the experience influenced his artistic work and his commitment to civil rights. A piece Hunt recently completed in Till's honor, called “Hero Ascending,” is expected to be installed in Till's childhood home in Chicago next year.
Hunt was a graduate of the prestigious School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to the National Council on the Arts. Three years later he was the first black sculptor to have a solo retrospective at the MoMa.
His commissioned work, “Book Bird,” will be placed outside a planned branch of the Chicago Public Library at the Obama Presidential Center, which is under construction. The sculpture shows a bird fleeing from a book.
“It will be an inspiration to visitors from around the world, and a lasting reminder of a remarkable man,” former President Barack Obama said in a statement on Saturday. “Richard Hunt was an acclaimed sculptor and one of the finest artists to ever emerge from Chicago.”
Hunt described the sculpture as something that shows the progress you can make through reading and studying.
“There are a range of opportunities to commemorate and inspire art on public buildings or in public places,” Hunt said about the commission in a presidential center video last year. “Art can enliven and set certain standards for what happens in and around and within the community.”
Hunt is survived by his daughter Cecilia and his sister Marian.
A private funeral service is planned for Chicago. According to his website, a public celebration of his life and art will take place next year.