HR0799LRB097 20563 GRL 66165 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives are pleased to congratulate Richard Howard
4Hunt for his many achievements as a sculptor; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Richard Hunt was born on September 12, 1935, in
6Chicago; he attended Chicago Public Schools before attending
7the University of Illinois in Chicago; in 1957, he earned his
8bachelor's degree in education from the University of Chicago;
9from 1957 to 1958, he traveled and studied in England, France,
10Spain, and Italy under the James Nelson Raymond Foreign Travel
11Fellowship; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Richard Hunt served his country as a member of the
13United States Army from 1958 to 1960; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Richard Hunt is well known throughout the world
15for his abstract sculpture; he began sculpting in his teens,
16modeling in clay and carving in his bedroom at home; he later
17created a studio in the basement of his father's barbershop; as
18a teen, he was intrigued by metalwork at the African collection
19of Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History, where his mother,
20a librarian, frequently took him, while his work in a
21zoological lab at the University of Chicago contributed to his
22fascination with animal and insect forms; and
 

 

 

HR0799- 2 -LRB097 20563 GRL 66165 r

1    WHEREAS, From 1953 to 1957, Richard Hunt attended the Art
2Institute of Chicago, where he focused on sculpture, especially
3welding, and studied lithography; while at the institute, he
4was exposed to the work of the sculptors Julio Gonzales and
5David Smith, to whom he has attributed inspiration to use
6direct-metal techniques to transform steel, aluminum, copper,
7and bronze into sculpture; using a welding torch as his mallet
8and chisel, he transformed found objects, garbage, and auto
9parts found on industrial sites into plant-like and insect-like
10forms; in 1959, he won his first award at an annual show for
11artists in the Chicago area; and
 
12    WHEREAS, By 1960, Richard Hunt had become a major
13open-form, direct-metal sculptor in the art world; at this
14time, he began to combine closed with open forms, calling them
15"hybrid figures"; in the 1970s, he added inventive Baroque
16flourishes to his forms so that solids seemed both to penetrate
17voids and to be penetrated by them; he later began to gradually
18move away from his early calligraphic work, instead turning to
19closed contours and solid shapes; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Richard Hunt has produced more than 55 public site
21sculptures, including a candelabra for St. Matthew's Methodist
22Church in Chicago in 1970; he has also created many color
23lithographs and drawings; and
 

 

 

HR0799- 3 -LRB097 20563 GRL 66165 r

1    WHEREAS, In 1971, Richard Hunt became the first
2African-American to be accorded a retrospective at the Museum
3of Modern Art; throughout the years, he has received
4Guggenheim, Ford, and Tamarind Fellowships, awards from the Art
5Institute of Chicago, and Logan, Palmer, and Compana prizes; he
6also holds numerous honorary degrees from prestigious
7universities and has served on the National Council of the Arts
8and as a commissioner of the Smithsonian Institution's National
9Museum of American Art; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Richard Hunt serves as a model of hard work,
11integrity, and dedication for the people of the State of
12Illinois; therefore, be it
 
13    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
14NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
15we congratulate Richard Howard Hunt for his many achievements
16as an artist and thank him for serving as an exemplar in the
17African-American community and as a source of inspiration
18during Black History Month; and be it further
 
19    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
20presented to Richard Hunt as a symbol of our esteem and
21respect.