Eagle Columns, 1989
Richard Hunt
Jonquil Park
Corner of West Wrightwood
and North Sheffield Avenues
Funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the
Arts and donations from local residents, these three angular, stylized eagle
forms appear to be rising in various states of flight from the bronze pylons
below. Created by Chicago-based sculptor Richard Hunt, this work commemorates
politician John Peter Altgeld (Governor of Illinois 1893-1897) and was inspired
by a 1913 poem by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay entitled “The Eagle That Is
Forgotten.” Lindsay was a native of Springfield, Illinois and troubadour poet
who spent years traveling without money and trading his poetry for food and
shelter. He wrote the poem in honor of Altgeld’s principled decision in 1893 to
pardon the three remaining men, out of the seven, convicted of murder and
sentenced to death following the bombing at the Haymarket Riot in 1886.
Although the trial is viewed today as a mockery of justice, Altgeld was
criticized harshly at the time and it was not until after the publication of
Lindsay’s poem that some citizens began to view the Governor as a forgotten
hero. In 1915, a figurative sculpture of Altgeld by Gutzon Borglum was erected
in Lincoln Park.
Hunt has produced a number of abstract welded-metal
sculptures commemorating important figures from United States history,
including works that honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in both Chicago and
Memphis and an indoor installation entitled “Jacob’s Ladder” at the Carter G.
Woodson public library on Chicago’s South Side. Woodson is considered the
“father of black history” and Hunt’s works strive to respond to aspects of the
site as well as the dynamics of the community. In the case of the Eagle Columns monument, the community
reciprocated when the monument showed signs of deterioration, and the
Wrightwood Neighbors Association worked with the Chicago Park District to
conserve the work. It was rededicated in 2010 and features a new ramp and
handrail, making it fully accessible.
Other works:
Other works:
- Building Growing
- Fox Box Hybrid
- Freeform
- From Here to There
- Slabs of the Sunburnt West
- We Will
- Why
- Winged Form
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