Henry DiSpirito

Henry DiSpirito (1898–1995) was an Italian-American artist and sculptor.

Born in 1898 in Castelforte, Italy, DiSpirito went to America in 1921 where he found work as a stonemason. He settled in Utica, New York, where he worked as a stone cutter and took lessons at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute. In 1942 he worked for the Works Progress Administration and created dioramas about Utica's history. While attending a class at the Art Institute, he met Richard Davis, a sculpture teacher, who suggested Di Spirito should work with stone rather than with clay. This was the start of a new career of DiSpirito, whose work has become popular in New York's upstate.

Throughout his career as a mason and during his "retirement", he pursued his interest in painting and sculpture with an emphasis on animals and nature.

In addition to his grant from the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1956, DiSpirito received many other honors. At the age of 84 he won a prize at the National Academy of Design in New York for his sculpture "Ant". He exhibited in many group shows in major museums, among them the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Whitney Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. His work is included in many private collections.

DiSpirito was an Utica College artist-in-residence from 1963 until he died in 1995. The UC Library houses nine art pieces, the largest collection of his sculptures on campus!

In Upstate, New York, DiSpirito’s work has been shown extensively, including the 1992 Visual and Tactile Sculpture Exhibition at the Central Association for the Blind and at Herkimer County Community College. Utica College held a Retrospective Exhibition in 1987 and a Collector’s Exhibition in 1992 at the Edith Barrett Art Gallery. At the commencement ceremony in May 1989 DiSpirito was presented with a Syracuse University honorary doctor of humane letters degree.

The Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York has featured an exhibition of DiSpirito’s best sculptures. The Museum houses several of his sculptures in their permanent collection. Numerous recent talks and discussions about his life and creative processes have sparked large interest in the talented late artist.

On August 13, 2007, DiSpirito's "The Lizard", part of the Atlanta High Museum of Art's permanent collection, was put on display in the Museum's Contemporary American Artist's section of the Stent Wing.