After the death of Edward Kemeys (1843-1907), Eli Harvey was considered the leading animal sculptor in the country. He attended the Art Academy of Cincinnati from 1884 to 1888, studying drawing with Thomas S. Noble (1835-1907) and sculpture with Louis T. Rebisso (1837-1899). In 1889 he went to Paris, where he studied at the Académie Julian and Académie Delecluse, and later at the Jardin des Plantes with Emmanuel Frémiet (1824-1910). He originally studied to be a painter but in 1897 exhibited his first animal sculpture at the Paris Salon. He returned to the United States in 1900, fully committed to animal sculpture. Beginning with his sculptural decorations for the lion house at the New York Zoological Park, 1902-3, he received numerous commissions for public sculptures. In 1921 he married Grace Harvey, a photographer also from Ohio. In 1929 Harvey retired to Alhambra, California, and the following year was accorded a solo exhibition at the Los Angeles Museum.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Wilmington, Ohio, Clinton County Historical Society, Eli Harvey Scrapbooks § R. G. McIntyre, "Eli Harvey: Sculptor," Arts and Decoration 3 (December 1912): 58-59, 74 § Jessie Lamont, "Impressions in the Studio of an Animal Sculptor," International Studio 51 (November 1913): cvi-cviii, supp. § Murrells Inlet, S.C., Brookgreen Gardens, Sculpture by Eli Harvey, 1937 (folder) § Dorothy Z. Bicker, Jane Z. Vail, and Vernon G. Wills, eds., The Autobiography of Eli Harvey: Quaker Sculptor from Ohio (Wilmington, Ohio: Clinton County Historical Society, 2d ed., 1966).