The Music of the Baroque Honoree 2023: RICHARD HUNT

Richard Hunt is one of the most important sculptors this nation has produced. His prolific art career spans nearly seven decades. Hunt’s metal sculpture is notable for its widespread presence in museum collections and many public monuments installed across the U.S. Despite challenges for African-American artists during his lifetime, Hunt held over 150 solo exhibitions and is represented in more than 100 public museums across the globe.

Hunt created major monuments and sculptures for some of our country’s greatest heroes, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Mary McLeod Bethune, Jesse Owens, Hobart Taylor, Jr., and Ida B. Wells. Hunt considered artistic freedom the most important aspect of his career, “I am interested more than anything else in being a free person. To me, that means that I can make what I want to make, regardless of what anyone else thinks I should make.” That artistic freedom was recognized and celebrated by the many institutions from which he received 18 honorary degrees and held over twenty professorships and artist residencies at institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Northwestern, the School of the Art Institute, and the University of Illinois.

Richard Hunt is a long-time attendee of Music of the Baroque concerts, has hosted multiple concerts at his private studio, and served a lengthy term on the MOB Advisory Board.