Ancestry & Identity
"I am an artist who is Black - not a Black artist."
- Richard Hunt
Heritage
Hunt delved deep into his African heritage, allowing it to profoundly influence the artistic themes throughout his illustrious career. He discovered a unique voice within the art community transcending racial identity in 1960s America, asserting himself as an artist unshackled by the times.
The pivotal 1968 symposium at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, titled "The Black Artist in America," featured influential figures such as Romare Bearden, Sam Gilliam, Jacob Lawrence, Tom Lloyd, William T. Williams, and Hale Woodruff. This gathering sparked a vibrant discourse about the essence of Black art during a period of profound cultural upheaval in America.
In his journey to carve out his niche in the art sphere, Hunt boldly proclaimed, “I am an artist who is Black—not a Black artist.” This statement underscored his desire to be recognized primarily for his artistry instead of being defined solely by his race.
Richard Hunt in his Cleveland Avenue studio, Chicago, 1962.
"We have a young man here, Richard Hunt, who I think is a great sculptor. This man is an artist. It has nothing to do with race; it is that real spark, unfathomable, and unidentifiable, that is deeply felt. The power of his sculpture is unassailable."
- Hale Woodruff, Quoted in "The Black Artist in America: A Symposium,"
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, January 1969
African Origins
Even as he championed this perspective, Hunt drew inspiration from the rich tapestry of his African lineage. His initial exposure to African art during numerous childhood visits to Chicago museums, especially the Field Museum's African artifacts collection, ignited his fascination with this heritage.
By the 1960s, Hunt embarked on a quest to collect his own African art and artifacts, ultimately amassing an impressive collection of more than 1,000 pieces throughout his life. Forms and metalworking practices from various African cultures inspired his artistic creations, as he engaged with the distinctive visual expressions that emerged from them.
Richard Hunt with his African Art collection, 1978.
"Hunt’s creative and seemingly spiritual connection to his African American heritage situates him as an inheritor of the African creative traditions that influenced modernism and its best-known European artists."
- Mary Miller, director of the Getty Research Institute
African Exhibitions
In 1965, Hunt marked a significant milestone in his career by exhibiting his sculptures in Africa for the first time as part of the group exhibition Ten Negro Artists from the United States, held in Dakar, Senegal. Among the notable works presented was Opposed Forms (1965), a welded steel sculpture that cleverly merged the calligraphic influences of his early linear-spatial works with a growing interest in more monolithic, enclosed forms. This evolution would come to define his work during the latter half of the decade.
In 1987, Hunt embarked on the first of numerous journeys to Africa to attend the grand opening of his solo exhibition featuring sculptures and drawings in Lagos, Nigeria. Organized by the Museum of African American Art in Los Angeles and curated by Samella Lewis, this traveling exhibition initially premiered in Monrovia, Liberia, before making its way through the vibrant West African cities of Accra, Cotonou, Lomé, Dakar, and Abidjan over the following year.
Attesting to the importance of African art within Hunt’s life and creative practice, the artist loaned a selection of works from his personal collection to the Northern Illinois University Art Gallery for their 1987 exhibition Life in the Form: African Art from the Collection of Richard Hunt.
Ten Negro Artists From the United States, 1966.
%2023%20Large.jpeg)
Richard Hunt, Opposed Forms (1965), welded chromed steel, 44 1/2 x 61 x 39 in.
African Influence
Hunt's unwavering commitment to engaging with African visual languages and symbolic forms is epitomized in his bronze sculpture Dogonese (1985). This striking piece honors the legacy of Mali's Dogon people, resembling a ceremonial staff. The work's title directly references its source of inspiration, while its ascending, bird-like forms recall the spiritual symbolism of Dogon Kanaga masks, which Hunt collected and studied. Its angular forms reflect Dogon metalwork's geometries, while Hunt's bronze craftsmanship connects it to European modernist abstraction.
Richard Hunt, Dogonese (1985), welded bronze, 80 3/4 x 24 1/4 x 23 in.