When Henry DiSpirito (1898–1995) emigrated from Italy in 1921 he was already a trained stonemason and bricklayer. In Utica, New York, he found work in those trades but longed to devote his life to art. He found his calling in the direct-carving style of sculpture. Most of his subjects were animals or human figures, rendered in fieldstone or wood. He exhibited at the Whitney, MoMA, and SculptureCenter in New York City, and at museums and galleries across the state. Renowned for his sculpture, DiSpirito was an accomplished painter as well.