Richard Hunt sculpture sells for $192,000; breaks previous auction record

Richard Hunt sculpture "Active Hybrid, Second Growth" has broken the record for the late artist’s pieces at auction, selling for $192,000 Sunday, according to Leonard Auction, which sold the piece.

It had originally been expected to sell for $100,000 to $150,000, and broke the previous record set by a Hunt sculpture in 2020 that sold for $138,000, said John Leonard, president of Leonard Auction.

Hunt, a lifelong Chicagoan who in 1971 became the first African American artist to receive a solo retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, was known for his fluidly organic, welded-metal sculptures in a Constructivist style descended from the 1920s and ‘30s creations of Pablo Picasso and Julio González.

He made more than 160 commissions across the United States, many of which were large-scale public works, including the 30-foot-wide hanging bronze, “Swing Low,” at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, and was responsible for 35 pieces in the Chicago area.

Leonard said the nearly 12-foot tall welded bronze piece was the largest sculpture his firm had sold since he started the business in 2006.

The sculpture had been bought from the artist in 1994 by Christopher and Janet Graf, who owned the Woodlot Gallery in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where it stayed until it was moved to a town outside Minneapolis five years ago, all the while staying in the Graf family, Leonard said.

The fact that the piece was owned by the same family for decades meant the auctioneers were able to trace its history through the Grafs' four children, who Leonard said were knowledgeable about the sculpture.

“As estate auctioneers, a lot of time we’re working for someone handling the estate, so we won’t get the same depth of personal details and history on a piece that we were able to get on this one, which was also really exciting,” Leonard said. “It hasn’t ever been available on the public market. … It’s never left the family.”

Leonard said the auction house had received lots of interest from the moment the sale was announced because there haven’t been many Hunt pieces on the market since the artist died last December.

Though he couldn’t reveal the identity of the buyer, Leonard said they have connections to Hunt’s studio and are a collector of his work.

“We were overjoyed at the excitement about the piece,” Leonard said. “We’ve seen a lot of interesting things over the years. … Pieces like this don’t come up for sale very often."

Contributing: Kyle MacMillan