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Why

Maker (American, b. 1935)
Date1974
MediumBronze sculpture with stone base
DimensionsSculpture on platform: 136 x 42 x 52 in. (345.4 x 106.7 x 132.1 cm)
Sculpture, without platform: 99 x 42 x 32 in. (251.5 x 106.7 x 81.3 cm)
Platform: 37 x 36 x 36 in. (94 x 91.4 x 91.4 cm)
Credit LineUniversity Transfer, Gift of the Samuel H. Nerlove Memorial Fund
Object number1984.127
Object TypeSculpture
On View
On view
Born on the South Side of Chicago, Richard Howard Hunt is celebrated for his abstract sculpture, often created for public sites. In 1957, Hunt received a Bachelor’s of Art Education from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and he has created over 125 public sculptures in the United States over the past six decades. He won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Sculpture Center in 2009.

Why was erected in honor of Samuel H. Nerlove (1901-1972), a University of Chicago professor of Economics who was known for his questioning nature. It is one of a series of works that Hunt describes as “hybrids,” because it combines abstract biomorphic forms with a hard-edged geometric base. Of his work, he explains,

“In some works it is my intention to develop the kind of forms Nature might create if only heat and steel were available to her.”
Saint Barbara
Richard Garbe
1904
Arizona Sketch
James Wines
1960
Personage Orientale
Basaldella Mirko
n.d.
Watchers
David Packard
1960
Siren
Dimitri Hadzi
1953
Watchers
David Packard
1960
Watchers
David Packard
1960
Siren
Dimitri Hadzi
1953
Siren
Dimitri Hadzi
1953
Small Figured Seated Boy
David Packard
n.d.
Le Vénusberg
Egide Rombaux
circa 1900