Eliot Hunter Art for Sale at Auction

b. 1938 - d. 1970

Hunter studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and was a founding member of the Seventy-Ninth Street Collective and the Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC), Chicago. OBAC (pronounced "oba-si") was a group of educators, poets, writers, scholars and visual artists. He contributed to the Wall of Respect in Chicago (the "Jazz" section, along with Jeff Donaldson and Billy Abernathy) and also the Wall of Dignity in Detroit. He died at only 31 years of age after a brief illness. In Rebecca Zorach's book, Art for People's Sake: Artists and Community in Black Chicago, 1965-1975, p. 61, the author speaks about the artists of the Wall of Respect not necessarily adhering to a social realist narrative similar to what they had seen previously in public murals:

"Along with portraits, Elliott Hunter had previously painted gorgeous large canvases, their bursts of abstract color suggestive of Abstract Expressionism."

Hunter's work was included in the exhibit: The Time is Now! Art Worlds of Chicago's South Side (1960-1980) at the Smart Museum of Art (University of Chicago, 2018), and two works were illustrated in the accompanying catalog: (cat. 18, p. 38 and cat. 59, p. 128). REF: Walls of Heritage / Walls of Pride, African American Murals, Prigoff and Dunitz). He had previously exhibited at the South Side Community Art Center.

In his book, Africobra, Experimental Art Toward a School of Thought, painter Wadsworth Jarrell tells this anecdote about Hunter:

"In April 1970, three artists were invited to an African Cobra meeting: Elliott Hunter, Keith Morrison, and Bertrand Phillips, all painters…Jae and I went downstairs to get refreshments, and Elliott followed. He said, 'I need something to drink that's stronger than coffee. I am going out to get some cream sherry. I may not be back because the last thing I need is to join a group."