16 Facts About Harold Tovish

Harold Tovish was an American sculptor who worked in bronze, wood, and synthetic media.

Harold Tovish was famous for exacting standards, and even refused to complete many of the sculptures he began.

Harold Tovish was born in New York City to a Russian refugee father.

Harold Tovish's father died during the Great Depression and his destitute mother placed his older sisters in foster care and sent young Tovish to the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York.

Harold Tovish took drawing classes that were sponsored by the Works Progress Administration.

Around age 16, Harold Tovish finished his first sculpture, which then set the direction of his career.

Harold Tovish received a scholarship and studied at the Columbia University School of the Arts where he studied with Oronzio Maldarelli.

Harold Tovish was in Minneapolis-St Paul for a number of years around 1950, probably with the University of MN art department.

Harold Tovish was sent to Europe by the United States Army during World War II.

Harold Tovish traveled to Paris with Ossip Zadkine, as well as Florence to study sculpture and drawing.

Harold Tovish was artist-in-residence at the American Academy in Rome in 1965.

Harold Tovish taught at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Harold Tovish was College of Fine Arts professor at Boston University from 1971 until his retirement in 1983.

Harold Tovish died of complications of a stroke one year after moving out of Boston to a retirement home in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The early work of Harold Tovish focused on the horror he witnessed as a soldier during World War II.

Harold Tovish threw out 99 percent of everything he made.