Published by the Koehnline Museum of Art in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name, Sculpting a Chicago Artist: Richard Hunt and His Teachers: Nelli Bar and Egon Weiner explores the ways in which Chicago’s legacy of art education shaped the artistic trajectory of renowned sculptor Richard Hunt.

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago cultivated artist Richard Hunt in the 1950s by the guidance of two dynamic teachers. Nelli Bar taught Richard Hunt during his adolescence, and Egon Weiner was his college professor. Bar and Weiner represent the generation of artists who fled Europe after the rise of the Nazi regime and found Chicago as the new home for their artistic ambitions. Both received their education in European academies under prominent teachers during the 1920s. Weiner and Bar produced a new post-war generation of artists, including Richard Hunt. Bar continued to accompany Hunt’s career as he recalls: “She has influenced me as a person over our 30-year relationship.” Hunt remembers Weiner for “his exuberance and nurturing manner – and for being a bundle of energy.”