Opus 40 Visit

2 minute read

Opus 40 natural context

We visited Opus 40 a few weeks ago and were treated to a 2-hour tour from John Cederquist , a board member who grew up with Harvey Fite, the artist and had spent many years on the property in his youth.

Opus 40 is a 6.5 acre earthwork built in an abandoned quarry out of local bluestone, in Saugerties, NY. Its creator was Harvey Fite, a Bard College professor and earthwork art pioneer. Fite learned Mayan and Aztec dry masonry in Honduras in the 1930s, and it inspired his work. The massive stonework sculpture lives in conversation with the surrounding woods, mountains, trees and groundwater. Nearby, Fite built his family’s house, barns and outbuildings from reclaimed wood scrounged from surrounding farms. The bluestone monument started out as a platform for Fite’s more traditional humanistic sculptures, but as he continued building the multi-level platforms over the years, the expanding earthwork began to overwhelm the original sculptures. So he moved those to nearby locations and the bluestone monument became the central feature of the property. Fite named it Opus 40, with the idea he’d put no more than 40 years of effort into it, a goal that had almost been met when he lost his life in an on-site accident.

Opus 40 tour group John Cederquist leading our tour

According to our guide, John Cederquist, Fite was probably not very familiar with Japanese wabi-sabi. Instead Fite was influenced deeply by the Arts & Crafts movement, which began in England in the late 1800s. Arts & Crafts was a reaction against the perceived impoverishment of the decorative arts. It focused on the connection forged between the artist and his work through handcraft. The goal was to produce beautiful objects that would be useful on an everyday basis, and produce human fulfillment. Natural themes are common, tool marks are celebrated evidence of the work of the artist and simplicity is central to its aesthetic.

Walls Nature Trees Grass Asymmetry and wildness abound

Frank Lloyd Wright brought the Arts & Crafts tradition together with Japanese influences including wabi-sabi, however Fite never intentionally melded the two. While distinct styles and traditions, the two aesthetics share many characteristics, probably because both express a set of universal human desires. The focus on nature in the face of urban blight, on simplicity to counter the chaos of modern life, on handcrafting to elevate humanity in the arts, and directly connecting with the maker through their objects—these are central to both and pleasing in a very similar way. In artworks from either tradition we can find intentional flaws and rough edges that reflect and celebrate our own imperfections.

Creating an item in the Arts & Crafts style is enough to label it as such. In contrast, wabi-sabi isn’t really a feature of any object. It is a feeling in the mind of the beholder, an emotional state that the object has triggered, therefore it can potentially be found anywhere. And Opus 40 is rich with wabi-sabi vibes, even if they weren’t specifically intended.

Here are some examples of these wabi-sabi elements:

1. Curves
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