Personal Metamorphosis
"At age 19, [Hunt] attended the 1955 funeral of Emmett Till and identified that as a turning point for his artistic life. Before long, he would devote himself to civil rights and creating art that expressed the critical need for human freedom and social justice."
- National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC)
Emmett Till
In the year 1955, a 19-year-old Hunt joined countless mourners in Bronzeville on Chicago’s South Side as they gathered to pay their respects at the heart-wrenching funeral of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy whose life had been tragically cut short. That fateful summer, Till had endured a horrific tragedy; he was mercilessly tortured and lynched during a visit with relatives in Money, Mississippi—a place still deeply entrenched in the oppressive systems of segregation, discrimination, and violence perpetuated by the Jim Crow Laws. In a poignant act of defiance and love, Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, insisted that when her son’s battered body was returned to Chicago for burial, the casket remain open for all to witness the brutality inflicted upon her child, declaring, “Let the people see what they did to my boy.” Experiencing Till's funeral, Hunt had the grave realization that he could have experienced similar violence as a young Black man traveling from Chicago to the South to visit his family: “What happened to [Till] could have happened to me.” This harrowing moment left an indelible mark on Hunt’s artistic journey, forever altering the course of his creative vision.
Emmett Till's funeral inside Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago on Sept. 3, 1955,
"His attendance at the Till funeral nearly 70 years ago helped establish the course for his career."
- The New York Times, "Richard Hunt, Sculptor Who Transformed Public Spaces, Dies at 88," December 16, 2023
Reconciling Art and Tragedy
In response to this tragedy, Hunt poured his grief and anger into two powerful works: Prometheus (1956), which draws a haunting parallel between Till’s suffering and the mythical tale of the fire god condemned to torment by Zeus; and Hero’s Head (1956), a striking sculpture that encapsulated the haunting image of Till’s disfigured head, crafted from welded steel. Through these profound allegorical narratives steeped in mythology—exploring themes of indiscriminate punishment and transformative metamorphosis—Hunt sought a path to grapple with and reconcile the violent truths of contemporary America, channeling his pain into art that resonates with the struggle for justice and humanity.
Read the full article from The British Museum, which acquired a Prometheus lithograph.
Richard Hunt, Prometheus (1956), lithograph, 17 7/8 × 22 7/8 in. Photo © ARS, NY
"What happened to [Till] could have happened to me."
- Richard Hunt
Hero's Head
"[The sculpture] Hero's Head (1956) is what I would call my response to Emmett Till. There, I was making something from scraps of metal and then he was brought back to Chicago. We were basically the same age, the two of us. My parents came North through the Great Migration. The fact is that there are all these African Americans during that period of time, they got jobs in the steel mills, the stockyards, in Chicago or New York or what have you. Some people come to visit you and sometimes you go and visit them [in the South]. In these rural areas usually at a crossroads, there would be a general store. There he was with his family, and he went to the same kind of store I went to, down the road apiece. One could say, 'there but for the grace of God go I.' Then, his remains came back to Chicago. I was there with my mother and father, my sister, and my cousin who was part of the family. The thing is, it's this afternoon; the street is full, and people are standing on the street waiting to get in. So you know his remains are there at the church. Till's mother had an open casket. It was obviously something to respond to."
- Richard Hunt
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