Memphis dedicates new minipark honoring MLK
Chicago artist Richard Hunt is glad to see his monumental sculpture commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. restored to a place of prominence in Memphis.
The move to the newly dedicated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Reflection Park promises to attract more eyeballs to “I Have Been to the Mountaintop,” even if the context has changed from Hunt’s original intention of an interactive experience.
Hunt, 82, who is considered among the most influential African-American artists of the 20th century, was in Memphis on Friday to help dedicate the 41year-old sculpture’s new home at South Second Street and MLK Boulevard.
He joined Memphis officials and Rosalind Withers, who unveiled new images of King by her father, civil rights photographer Ernest Withers, at the park’s dedication. Photos from the Withers Collection Museum and Gallery are displayed at reflecting pools.
Hunt was commissioned to create the 1977 work, “The Mountaintop,” which originally was unveiled on Main Street north of Poplar.
“The site was the center of the MidAmerica Mall at the time, and I did the piece with that particular site in mind,” Hunt said.
“The design of it, where you have a ramp and you can go up the ramp, and look down the mall, that was how it developed. I was thinking about people walking up that ramp,” Hunt said.
The sculpture was moved from the middle of the pedestrian mall to make way for a trolley line more than 25 years ago.
Lawyer Jocelyn Wurzburg said the sculpture was “shoved into the stairwell” of the Memphis branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Wurzburg was an early advocate of a King memorial and led fund-raising with the Mallory Knights civic organization and others.
Venue change part of process
The move changed the sculpture’s context.
“When it was off to the side, it wasn’t doing what I thought of it doing when I was commissioned to do it,” Hunt said. “I don’t know if anybody else was around to lament that, the men of the Mallory Knights and the other committee (members),” Hunt said.
The new park provides more exposure at a busy intersection that’s near other points of interest on a civil rights trail, including Beale Street, Clayborn Temple and the National Civil Rights Museum.
Hunt said he takes satisfaction in having created a piece commemorating King.
“It’s meaningful, absolutely. One of the things about sculpture historically, whether it’s a portrait bust or whatever, the idea of commemorating, giving some sort of form to the feeling that surrounds an event, has been an important thing,” he said.
Hunt is working on a piece in Chicago on another civil rights figure with Memphis ties, anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells. Last year he completed a sculpture of African-American artist Romare Bearden in Bearden’s hometown of Charlotte.
Regarding Wells, Hunt said, “They ran her out of here, or she got out before she got lynched. Of course, she’s an icon in Chicago, having spent the rest of her life there. There’s an area, near where there were these Ida B. Wells Homes, early public housing, and it’s part of this rebirth of an area called Bronzeville. I’m going to be working on that.”
Hunt considers the change of venue for “The Mountaintop” as part of the artistic process.
“Here in the fullness of time, it has gained enough interest to be moved to this new reflection park, which, I think, reflects very well on the adaptive reuse of the sculpture,” Hunt said.
Reach reporter Wayne Risher at (901) 529-2874 or wayne.risher@commercial appeal.com.