254:, especially by their method of dry-stone construction. The next spring he began to organize the rubble scattered about the disused quarry, beginning what eventually became his life's work: a sculptured environment of terraces, alleys, ramps, steps and rain-fed pools which he would eventually name "Opus 40", as he estimated it would take him forty years to complete. Over the decades, Fite single-handedly moved and positioned stones, including at one point a nine-ton bluestone monolith, using
235:, which neighbors Woodstock. Over many years, he embellished his home's exterior with grand necklaces of quarryman's chains, and filled the interior and attached studio with murals, paintings and sculpture, going as far as whittling door handles of arched nudes, so that the building itself is now a museum of Fite's artwork.
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of actors, and later moved to
Woodstock, where he performed with a local theater. According to an anecdote that his stepson, Tad Richards, relates, Fite discovered his passion for sculpting suddenly one day when, while sitting backstage during a performance, he absentmindedly pulled out his
270:, in the process of completing an attached open-air "theater" at the site's northwestern extreme; he was riding a power lawnmower at the time, and he fell into the quarry from a 12-foot precipice. He was 72 years old, and had worked alone on his
161:, where his family had moved early in his childhood. As a young man he attended evening courses in law for three years, before deciding not to pursue it as a career. At that point he moved east to study for the
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quarry in
Saugerties, New York, a 12-acre site formerly owned by the widow of the last quarrymaster. He designed, engineered and hand-built a fine wooden house at the edge of the quarry grounds, facing the
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and been renamed Bard
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artist of many talents, he was primarily a sculptor of wood and stone. Fite is also known for founding the
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A recognized sculptor, Fite was invited in 1933 to organize the fine arts program at his
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378:". Opus 40 Sculpture Park and Museum. opus40.org. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
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107:(December 25, 1903 – May 9, 1976) was a pioneering American
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333:. The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
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327:Opus 40, by Harvey Fite, Saugerties, NY: History
266:Harvey Fite died in May 1976 while at work on
119:best known for his monumental land sculpture
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309:. May 11, 1976. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
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376:About Opus 40 & Harvey Fite
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169:institution in Annandale-on-Hudson, in
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353:Wallis, David (June 2, 2006). "
222:In May 1938, Fite purchased an idle
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435:20th-century American male artists
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238:That summer he was invited by the
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303:Harvey Fite Dies; Sculptor was 72
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425:People from Saugerties, New York
430:20th-century American sculptors
395:Sculptors from New York (state)
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208:outside Woodstock, New York.
139:Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
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400:People from the Catskills
440:American male sculptors
405:Artists from Pittsburgh
185:pocketknife and began
180:He joined a traveling
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420:Bard College faculty
363:Biography in Context
202:Columbia University
240:Carnegie Institute
229:Catskill Mountains
157:, Fite grew up in
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415:1976 deaths
410:1903 births
272:magnum opus
133:program at
105:Harvey Fite
67:Occupations
58:May 9, 1976
23:Harvey Fite
389:Categories
278:References
246:in Copan,
233:Saugerties
206:art colony
198:alma mater
151:Pittsburgh
43:Pittsburgh
35:1903-12-25
224:bluestone
187:whittling
167:Episcopal
145:Biography
131:fine arts
127:Woodstock
248:Honduras
171:New York
163:ministry
149:Born in
109:sculptor
73:Sculptor
268:Opus 40
218:Opus 40
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113:painter
96:Opus 40
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182:troupe
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262:Death
191:spool
159:Texas
252:Maya
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