biography of Harvey FITE (1903-1976)

Birth place: Pittsburgh, PA

Addresses: Saugerties, NY

Profession: Sculptor, educator, lecturer, writer

Studied: St. Stephen's College; Woodstock School of Painting; and with Corrado Vigni, Florence, Italy.

Exhibited: WMAA, 1945-47; Woodstock AA, 1938-45; Dutchess County AA, 1938-40; Upper Hudson Exhib., 1946; in Rome, Paris, and NYC, 1949-51 (solos); U.S. Dept. State traveling group shows in Europe & Africa, 1953-54. Awards: Asia Foundation grant for Cambodia, 1956.

Member: Woodstock AA; Dutchess County AA.

Work: WMAA; Albany Inst. Hist. & Art, NY; Woodstock AA. Commissions: restoration of Ancient Maya sculpture in Copan, Honduras, Carnegie Inst., Washington, DC, 1938.

Comments: During the late 1930s, he began creating his monumental landscape sculpture, "Opus 40," of terraced rocks and fountains covering six and one-half acres of bluestone quarry in Woodstock; however, in 1976 his tractor rolled over and crushed him to death. Teaching: Bard College, 1932-69. Lectures: history and theory of sculpture during Italian Renaissance and Mayan civilization; the Art of the Maya.

Sources: WW73; WW47; Woodstock's Art Heritage, 88-89; addl info courtesy Peter Lange, and Woodstock AA