Image: Georgia Museum of Art, Athens
The museum first published 'Richard Hunt: Synthesis' in 2018 in conjunction with a retrospective exhibition of the same name, and that first edition sold out quickly, reflecting a surge of interest in Hunt’s work.
Following Hunt’s death and the popularity of the first edition, museum staff saw an opportunity to refine and expand the publication through a second edition. Edited by Shawnya L. Harris, the museum’s Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Curator of African American and African Diasporic Art, the second edition includes new images and essays that provide additional information about the artist. Jon Ott of the Richard Hunt Legacy Foundation details Hunt’s connections to the American South, while Nijah Cunningham of Hunter College expands on Hunt’s printmaking.
Toward the end of the second edition, an interview with Hunt conducted by Harris delves into a first-hand account of Hunt’s life. The account describes how the Art Institute lacked the proper welding materials for Hunt to pursue his work in the way he wished, leading him to make his own space in the basement of his father’s barbershop.
Even after being drafted into the US Army, where he served as a medic and illustrator, Hunt kept up his practice in an off-base studio and exhibited impactful work in galleries.
