Richard Hunt Sculptor

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Richard Hunt Sculptor

The Richard Hunt Legacy Foundation advances public awareness, education, and appreciation of the life and art of American sculptor Richard Hunt.

10/10/2026

A new mural dedicated to Richard Hunt has been unveiled in Hyde Park in Chicago by muralist Chris Devins. Located on 54th Street, this permanent portrait mural was conceived by Michelle Duster, public historian and great-granddaughter of Ida B. Wells, who was a member of a committee that commissioned Hunt to create "The Light of Truth: Ida B. Wells National Monument" (2021).

The mural places Hunt’s portrait directly on the South Side, where Hunt was born and raised and close to many of his outdoor sculptures. Nearby, Hunt sold his first work of art at the 57th Street Art Fair, the first art fair he ever attended in June 1955. Rooted in a belief shared by Devins and Hunt that public art should engage directly with the rhythm of daily life, the mural embeds the sculptor’s legacy into the urban fabric and shapes the culture of the local community.

https://f.mtr.cool/or9t4epb91

Image by Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times

10/09/2026

In this second installment of the Chicago Sculpture Exhibit's 25th Anniversary panel, D.Lamar Preston, who won the CSE's Richard Hunt Award in 2025 for his work, "Gifted to Me" shares his personal connections to the South Side of Chicago.

The Richard Hunt Legacy Foundation is honored to continue Richard Hunt's spirit of encouraging the next generation of artists and provide funding for the 2027 CSE Richard Hunt Award.

Applications are now open until October 30.
https://f.mtr.cool/jdr08hb843

lamar.preston

10/06/2026

In 1989, Richard Hunt reflected on what public art means to a community. "Public sculpture responds to the dynamics of a community, or of those in it, who have a use for sculpture. It is this aspect of use, of utility, that gives public sculpture its vital and lively place in the public mind."

In his illustrious seven-decade career, Hunt created more than 160 public works for parks, universities, buildings, plazas, and other public spaces across the U.S., with more than a dozen works in Michigan alone.

📍Discover Richard Hunt's "And You, Seas," an eight-ton beacon of welded stainless steel staged directly on the lakefront in St. Joseph, Michigan. The sculpture is the tallest Hunt ever created (65-feet-tall) and was inspired by a poem by French Surrealist Saint-John P***e.

"And You, Seas" (2002)
Welded stainless steel
South Pier Silver Beach County Park
Saint Joseph, MI
Collection of Krasl Art Center

© 2026 The Richard Hunt Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

09/29/2026

The Chicago Sculpture Exhibit (CSE) celebrated its 25th Anniversary with a special panel of artist recipients of the Richard Hunt Award. CSE launched the Richard Hunt Award with Richard Hunt in 2021 to support emerging sculptors in the city of Chicago. Gwen Yen Chiu, who won the award in 2021 for her work, "Thought Vortex" shared her personal and cultural inspirations for her sculpture.

The Richard Hunt Legacy Foundation is honored to continue Richard Hunt's spirit of encouraging the next generation of artists and provide funding for the 2027 CSE Richard Hunt Award. Applications are now open until October 30. https://f.mtr.cool/4vxxav2frq

Chicago Sculpture Exhibit

09/21/2026

The Getty Research Institute (GRI) has released the first series of documents from Richard Hunt's archive, which the GRI acquired in 2022. As one of the largest archives of an American artist, The Richard Hunt Papers chronicle his seven-decade career as a metal sculptor and printmaker, highlighting his focus on large-scale public monuments and dedication to arts education.

The extensive archive (more than 800-linear-feet of materials) contains drawings, models, prints, exhibition files, correspondence, and personal records that thoroughly document his artistic process and legacy.

Learn more about Richard Hunt's archive and The Richard Hunt Papers at https://f.mtr.cool/msxjadz0ah

© 2026 The Richard Hunt Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Getty

09/10/2026

Richard Hunt’s monumental stainless steel work, "Planar and Tubular" (2012–20), is now on view in the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC.

Standing nearly 12 feet tall and crafted from welded stainless steel, this commanding piece pairs a volumetric geometric base with soaring biomorphic winged shapes and a spiraling tubular element. Hunt hand-sanded the steel in rhythmic motions, giving the industrial metal a textured, expressive surface. "Planar and Tubular" was previously exhibited in the 2020-2021 Art Institute of Chicago exhibition, "Richard Hunt: Scholar’s Rock or Stone of Hope or Love of Bronze."

📍 Plan your visit to the National Gallery’s Sculpture Garden to experience this landmark work up close.

Images:
1-"Planar and Tubular" (2012-20) installed in the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC ©2026 National Gallery of Art, Washington
2-Quote by Jordan Carter, Dia Art Foundation in "Monumental," 2023
3-Richard Hunt working in his Chicago Studio, with "Planar and Tubular" in the foreground, 2022. Photo by Jim Grot
All images © 2026 The Richard Hunt Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

08/28/2026

From the streets of Downtown to parks and plazas on the North and South Sides, Richard Hunt left a monumental gift to Chicago. With organic curves and soaring flames, Hunt injected natural forms into the city's industrial landscape.

🏙️✨Unlock the city’s ultimate open-air gallery of Richard Hunt's works with our self-guided Public Art Tours on Bloomberg Connects. Discover more than 20 of Richard Hunt's public monuments throughout Chicago and how his installations elevate and enhance the communities they grace.

📲 Step outside or explore from home, with accessible content in more than 50 languages, high-resolution images, audio, video, transcripts, and Google Map directions.

Download the free Bloomberg Connects app or click the link to explore the Richard Hunt Legacy Foundation's Digital Guide:
🔗 https://f.mtr.cool/w31zq6g8u5

Bloomberg Connects

08/18/2026

Richard Hunt created "Instrument of Change" (The Diaspora) in 1997 to honor Nelson Mandela and his unwavering belief in the equality of all people.

The resulting welded bronze sculpture took the shape of a drum with pulses of drumbeats directed toward a globe suspended above the instrument. Bronze outstretched arms with an abstract open hand or flame-like gesture rise vertically on either side of the piece, creating a work that suggests Mandela’s global influence, outreach, and dedication to peace and justice.

"Instrument of Change" (The Diaspora) (1997)
Welded bronze
31 x 30 x 17 in.
Collection of Walter O. Evans

© 2026 The Richard Hunt Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

08/12/2026

"What does a hero mean?" Standing in a defiant contrapposto stance, Richard Hunt's "Hero Construction" (1958) serves as a gritty, modernist response to Michelangelo's classical hero, "David." Rather than carving his hero from idealized marble, Hunt utilized the salvaged industrial materials of the 20th century to suggest a hero while not overtly defining it.

With the intense heat of his torch, Hunt masterfully welded together discarded automobile parts—including mufflers and steel pipes scavenged from local Chicago scrapyards—to create a resilient figure of heroism. By reassembling these broken, industrial elements, Hunt forms a new kind of modern champion—one intimately tied to his overarching themes of martyred heroism and African American struggle, particularly his ongoing internal response to the murder of Emmett Till in 1955. "Hero Construction" is a poignant accumulation of metaphorical will as one piece in Hunt's "Hero" series of works, standing as a modest yet enduring symbol of resilience in the face of contemporary adversity.

✨See Richard Hunt's "Hero Construction," a seminal early masterpiece of direct-metal sculpture, currently installed in the Contemporary Art Galleries at the Art Institute of Chicago alongside works by Jackson Po***ck, Helen Frankenthaler, Francis Bacon, Philip Guston, and other masters.

"Hero Construction"
Welded Steel
64 × 29 in.
Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago

© 2026 The Richard Hunt Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

08/07/2026

Richard Hunt's "Uplifted" (2002) is a dynamic stainless steel work dedicated to his wife, Lenora Cartright. She was the former director of the School of Urban Sciences at the University of Illinois who also served as a city official in Chicago under Mayors Jane Byrne and Harold Washington. In 1989, Lenora tragically died at the age of 53 of breast cancer. Leon Forrest, an African American novelist and a friend of the Hunts, delivered her eulogy, describing Lenora as a “woman in the tradition of Mary McLeod Bethune, Rosa Parks, and Ella Baker.” Hunt began working on "Uplifted" in 1990, months after her passing, though it took him more than a decade to finish the piece.

Lenora inspired Richard Hunt to create the United Negro College Fund's "Book Bird" award. This award became the foundation for the much larger "Book Bird" monument, now installed at the Obama Presidential Center's Library Reading Garden.

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Chicago, IL

Website

https://www.richardhuntsculptor.org/

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