Richard Hunt: Affirmations

A comprehensive mini-retrospective covering 30 years of Richard Hunt’s career as one of America’s most successful creators of public art, Richard Hunt: Affirmations gathered some of his boldest creations. Hunt is unequaled as a prolific creator of expressive metalwork, most of which combines abstract modernism with a rich allusiveness animated by nature, mythology, and aspects of African-American culture. His fragmentary, yet fluid, sculptural vision draws from Cubism, Surrealism, and Machine Age Style, though permeated by a highly personal social intelligence. Hunt has created over 100 public sculptures—more than any other artist in the United States—and was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to be one of the first artists to serve on the governing board of the National Endowment for the Arts.

International Arts & Artists was commissioned to develop and install this exhibition, as well as to create a catalogue for the then-new Museum of African American History in Detroit, Michigan. The exhibition included lithographs, maquettes, installation photos, and bronzes of various sizes, including 13 life-size works installed outside the museum. A selection of the artist’s own collection of African art was also included as an educational supplement.