A new three-story mural in Hyde Park honors the late sculptor Richard Hunt, a lifelong Chicagoan and the first African American artist to receive a solo retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
The mural, created by Chicago artist Chris Devins, was installed early last week at 1515-19 E. 54th St., near several of Hunt’s sculptures and less than a mile from the Obama Presidential Center, where one of his final works, “Book Bird,” is installed.
Hunt was born on the South Side in 1935 and created more than 160 public works worldwide, including 35 outdoor sculptures in the Chicago area.
Author and public historian Michelle Duster had been thinking about ways to honor Hunt for years. Duster, who is the great-granddaughter of Ida B. Wells, worked with Hunt for more than a decade as he created “The Light of Truth: Ida B. Wells National Monument” in Bronzeville. In 2021, she approached him about an honorary street name and a mural.
“I was like, ‘He needs to be honored,’” Duster said.
Hunt, who was receptive to the idea, died in December 2023, before the mural could be completed. Duster said she was crushed that he hadn’t lived to see it come to fruition, but his death only made her more determined to finish the mural.
“I made a promise to him that I was going to get this done,” she said.
The project took years of fundraising and searching for the right wall. Duster wanted a location connected to Hunt’s life and work and considered neighborhoods including Woodlawn, Englewood and Hyde Park. The 54th Street site ultimately was chosen because of Hunt’s ties to the area, including his affiliation with the University of Chicago and his work near the Obama Presidential Center.
Devins, who is known for his portraits of African American Chicagoans like Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks, met Hunt in 2023 after Duster connected the two. He spent several days photographing Hunt’s cavernous studio, filled with steel plates, hammers, anvils, car bumpers and a crane capable of moving pieces weighing thousands of pounds.
“It really felt like walking into a Picasso studio or a French salon of some artists,” Devins said.
The photos Devins captured of Hunt in the studio became the basis for the mural.
Devins said the experience was particularly meaningful because his previous “Bronzeville Legends” project had featured people who had already died, meaning that he had relied on existing photographs of them.
“With him being still alive, I was able to catch him,” Devins said.
Duster described Hunt as soft-spoken, modest, warm and “the exact opposite of a diva,” despite his accomplished career. She recalled watching him interact with the audience at a 2023 screening of a documentary about his work, just months before his death, describing the exchange as one of “love and appreciation.”
“I felt like I was in the presence of somebody who was a giant when it came to what he contributed to the world, but his way of navigating the world was very understated,” Duster said. “I never met anybody like that before.”
For Devins, the mural is a way to ensure more people get to know the man behind the sculptures.
“Richard Hunt was a literal treasure to the city of Chicago,” Devins said. “We were lucky to have him.”