The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

Fragmented Figure Construction

Fragmented Figure Construction

1963
(1935–2023)
America, 20th century
welded steel
Base: 35.6 x 66 x 66 cm (14 x 26 x 26 in.); Unframed: 143.5 cm (56 1/2 in.)
Gift of Arnold H. Maremont 1969.16
© Richard Hunt
Location: not on view

Description

Chicago sculptor Richard Hunt embarked on his artistic career in 1955 when he taught himself to become a master welder. During the 1960s, his abstract work often referred to human, plant, and animal shapes. This sculpture balances on two splayed legs, appearing to strain and bulge with energy. Light and shadow define the curving ridges and hollows of its form, in which remnants of industrial waste are folded and fused together beyond recognition. Color and texture continually change as the eye scans the surface-from deep brown tones to flashes of coppery iridescence, and from scuffs and abrasions to polished sheens. Hunt relied on a vigorous technique to convey the presence of life and "the kind of forms nature might create if only heat and steel were available to her."
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 200 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Art of the Twentieth Century in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Dept. of Art History & Education, CMA, 1969. Mentioned: p. 4 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 254 archive.org
  • "The Appropriate Object," Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York (Mar. 4 - April 23, 1989). Also to Detroit Institute of Arts (May 15 - July 15, 1989) and J. B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY (Nov. 13, 1989 - Jan. 7, 1990).
    Materials and Techniques of 20th-Century Artists. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 17, 1976-January 2, 1977).
    Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).
    "Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture," CMA (1975).
    Richard Hunt. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (organizer) (March 23-June 7, 1971).
    "Richard Hunt," Museum of Modern Art, New York (Mar. 23 - June 7, 1971) and the Art Institute of Chicago (Aug. 21 - Oct. 4, 1971).
    "Year in Review for 1969," CMA (Jan. 28 - Feb. 22, 1970).
    Year in Review: 1969. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 27-February 22, 1970).
    CMA: Works from the Contemporary Collection, July 1-mid-October, 1969
    Works from the Contemporary Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 1-October 15, 1969).
  • {{cite web|title=Fragmented Figure Construction|url=false|author=Richard Hunt|year=1963|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1969.16