# Richard Hunt artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/richard-hunt/
Profile generated: 2026-05-29T19:22:00.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1935-09-12
- Nationality: American
- Movements: Abstract sculpture
- Common media: Welded and cast metal sculpture, Lithography

## About Richard Hunt

Richard Howard Hunt (1935–2023) was an American sculptor and lithographer born in Chicago, Illinois, widely regarded as the foremost African-American abstract sculptor of the late twentieth century. He studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, earning his BA in 1959, and began producing lithographs as early as 1953. In 1971, Hunt became the first African-American sculptor to receive a solo retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Over a career spanning six decades, he completed more than 160 public sculpture commissions installed across twenty-four US states—a body of monumental work unmatched by any other American sculptor in that period. Hunt also taught at institutions including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Washington University in St. Louis, and the State University of New York at Binghamton. His welded and cast metal sculptures draw on organic and biomorphic abstraction, and his legacy bridges modernist sculpture and public art.

## Common works and media

Hunt's most encountered work types in appraisal and auction contexts include welded steel and bronze abstract sculptures in gallery-scale dimensions, cast bronze maquettes or models related to larger public commissions, lithographs produced from the 1950s onward, and small-scale metal wall reliefs. Public commissions in stainless steel, bronze, and Corten steel are site-specific and rarely appear on the secondary market, but related maquettes, studies, and editioned prints do. Works on paper, especially early lithographs, form a distinct and more accessible segment of his output.

## Market and appraisal context

Richard Hunt's work appears at auction primarily as welded or cast metal sculpture and, less frequently, as lithographs and works on paper. Key factors affecting appraisal include the scale and material of the piece (monumental public commissions versus gallery-scale works), documented provenance linking the work to a known exhibition or commission, condition of the metal or print surface, and whether the work appears in museum or estate records. His 160-plus public commissions mean many pieces have institutional documentation that supports attribution. Collectors should note that Hunt's market spans post-war contemporary sculpture, modern prints, and African-American fine art categories, each with distinct demand and comparable-sale pools.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine verified artist identity research from museum, library authority, and scholarly sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Richard Hunt, identity data is drawn from MoMA, the Getty ULAN, VIAF, the RKD, and Wikidata. Market observations are general and should be supplemented with live comparable-sale data before use in a formal appraisal.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7326615
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hunt_(sculptor)
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500124131
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/92763638/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n91051257
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/2769
- RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/121674