Richard Hunt · KS.City

Richard Hunt (1935–2023) was an American sculptor whose welded-metal abstract works became one of the largest bodies of public sculpture in the country — more than 160 public commissions across 24 states, reportedly more than any other American sculptor.¹ Kansas City holds one of them: the Spirit of Freedom Fountain (1981) on Brush Creek, commissioned through the foundation organized by City Councilman Bruce R. Watkins to honor the contributions of African Americans in Kansas City.² In 1971, at 35, Hunt became the first African American sculptor given a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art.¹

Biography

Richard Hunt was born in Chicago on September 12, 1935, and died there on December 16, 2023, aged 88.¹ He graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1957 and also studied at the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago.¹

He worked principally in welded metal, alongside drawing and printmaking, in an abstract modernist idiom that set industrial materials against organic, growing forms.¹

His career began early and publicly: the Museum of Modern Art purchased his sculpture Arachne (1956) in 1957, when he was 22.¹ In 1962 he held a Guggenheim Fellowship, and he received multiple Logan Medals and, in 2009, the International Sculpture Center’s Lifetime Achievement Award.¹

The 1971 MoMA retrospective

The Sculpture of Richard Hunt ran at the Museum of Modern Art from March 25 to July 9, 1971. At 35, Hunt was the first African American sculptor to be given a retrospective there — a fact that establishes the standing he brought to the Kansas City commission six years later.¹

Public commissions

Hunt’s national body of public work exceeds 160 commissions in 24 states, and includes memorials to Martin Luther King Jr., Mary McLeod Bethune, Ida B. Wells, and Jesse Owens.¹

Kansas City connection

The Spirit of Freedom Fountain (1977–1981)

In 1977 Kansas City councilman Bruce R. Watkins organized the Spirit of Freedom Foundation to develop a monument to the contributions of African Americans in Kansas City.² Hunt presented an abstract model, arguing that abstraction suited the symbolic nature of the subject and noting that it was in keeping with the improvisational character of Kansas City jazz — a rationale that ties the work directly to 18th and Vine rather than treating it as a generic civic memorial.²

Watkins died September 13, 1980. The fountain was dedicated September 13, 1981, exactly one year later, at Brush Creek Boulevard and Cleveland Avenue.² Its inscription reads in part: “Richard, Hunt, Sculptor. This work was inspired by civic and community leader Bruce R. Watkins, March 20, 1924 – September 13, 1980. Dedicated September 13, 1981.”²

The fountain deteriorated badly and was fully rebuilt in the winter of 2017–18 — the sculpture removed off-site for cleaning and restoration, the fountain torn out and rebuilt — and re-dedicated April 17, 2018 on Fountain Day.²

⚠ Medium not confirmed. The spirit-of-freedom-fountain page records that no consulted source states the sculpture’s medium: the City of Fountains Foundation says only “metallic,” and KC Parks does not state one. Welded bronze is likely given Hunt’s practice, but is not asserted here.

Significance to Kansas City

The Spirit of Freedom is the city’s most significant memorial sculpture honoring African American contributions to Kansas City, and it was made by a sculptor who was, at the time of the commission, the most nationally decorated Black sculptor in the United States. That the foundation behind it went to Hunt rather than to a local artist is itself a fact about the seriousness of the commission — and Hunt’s insistence on abstraction, justified by reference to Kansas City jazz, is the reason the monument does not look like the figurative civic statuary of its era.

Sources

Wikipedia — “Richard Hunt (sculptor).” — Confirms: born September 12, 1935, Chicago; died December 16, 2023, Chicago, aged 88; graduated School of the Art Institute of Chicago 1957, also studied at the University of Illinois and University of Chicago; welded-metal sculpture, drawing and printmaking in an abstract modernist idiom; MoMA purchased Arachne (1956) in 1957 when he was 22; The Sculpture of Richard Hunt at MoMA March 25 – July 9, 1971, first retrospective given there to an African American sculptor, at age 35; over 160 public commissions across 24 states; commissions including Martin Luther King Jr., Mary McLeod Bethune, Ida B. Wells and Jesse Owens memorials; Guggenheim Fellowship 1962, multiple Logan Medals, International Sculpture Center Lifetime Achievement Award 2009; Spirit of Freedom (1981) in Kansas City. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹
City of Fountains Foundation — “Spirit of Freedom Fountain.” and Kansas City Parks and Recreation — “Spirit of Freedom Fountain.” kcparks.org (the two sources behind this vault’s spirit-of-freedom-fountain page, from which these facts are carried). Confirms: Bruce R. Watkins organized the Spirit of Freedom Foundation in 1977; Hunt presented an abstract model and cited the improvisational aspects of Kansas City jazz; Watkins died September 13, 1980 and the fountain was dedicated September 13, 1981 at Brush Creek Boulevard and Cleveland Avenue; the inscription text; the 2017–18 rebuild and April 17, 2018 re-dedication; the unresolved question of the sculpture’s medium. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶