Book Bird

© 2026 The Richard Hunt Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. © The Obama Foundation, Photo: Taylor Glascock

Richard Hunt’s Book Bird (2023) stands as a testament to the emancipatory power of knowledge. Selected by President Barack Obama as the first commissioned artwork for the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) on Chicago’s South Side, Hunt considered the commission to be a tremendous privilege, proclaiming he was both delighted and deeply honored to be chosen for this historic project.

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Book Bird gracefully captures a moment of metamorphosis: an avian form breaking the bonds of gravity, rising triumphantly from the open pages of a book. Its genesis lies in a 1985 cast-bronze award that Hunt originally created for the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) to honor philanthropic champions of higher education. Notable recipients of the UNCF award are President George H.W. Bush; Dr. Michael L. Lomax, former UNCF President and CEO; John H. Johnson, founder and publisher of the Johnson Publishing Company and Ebony/Jet magazines; and Richard M. Daley, former mayor of Chicago. 

Hunt’s homage to education anchors the Library Reading Garden at the Obama Presidential Center. Book Bird is an invitation to the community, challenging all who walk beneath its wings to embrace the liberating currents of learning and imagination. Created as one of the last monuments prior to his passing, Hunt observed that Book Bird encapsulates the "progress one can make through reading and study. This 'Book Bird' helps you to take wing yourself."

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Discover Book Bird on our Bloomberg Connects South Side Public Art Tour

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Press Release: "Richard Hunt's Book Bird to be Unveiled at the Obama Presidential Center"

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Obama Presidential Center: "Richard Hunt: Inspiring us all to take flight"

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