He was actually Grand Uncle Harlan, but all generations generally called him Uncle Harlan. His full name was Harlan Burros Hunt. He was my maternal Grandmother’s brother and lived next door to Grandmother until Harlan Jr. built his house in-between them. His father, Charles Hunt, is whom I am named after.
In addition to being a well-known oil painter of Arkansas scenery, he ran the Hunt Hatchery in his backyard and I suspect did other things to help make a living, since art seldom does that for most artists.
In Junior High when being an artist interested me, Uncle Harlan was my role model and I wanted to paint nature the way he did and I tried as you can see in a few of my efforts at painting. By high school it was his brother, Walter Hunt or “Uncle Doc” that became my role model during the time I aspired to become a medical doctor. Both were Mom’s heroes since she grew up without a father and I suspect they both assisted in that role. Her admiration of them certainly affected me and they were both important men in my life.
This collection of photographs of his work is a combination of paintings in our family or my possession and at least one I photographed in the home of a relative. There were so many more! This is barely a sample of his work! I will update these with captions later.
