Franciscus Theodorus Alexandros (Frans) de Wit was born in Leiden on 2 March 1942. His father was a furniture maker and carpenter. He was an open-minded creator and at the same time a very critical mentor with an eye for detailed craftsmanship. Frans possessed the solution-oriented aptitude of a craftsman who boldly experimented with ambitious plans. This steadfast mentality remains an essential quality for the monumental works that he would later develop. Frans graduates from the Practische Ambachtsschool (Practical Crafts School) in Leiden as a watchmaker. He wants to continue his education at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. De Wit is allowed to enroll in 1960 without the required preparatory training because the sculptor and Academy professor Dirk Bus recognizes his talent. The sculpting department complements an innovative approach with traditional skills working in tandem. In addition to clay modelling and art history, the program included letter design, public space art and monument design. In 1965, Frans de Wit graduated cum laude with a life-size sculpture, 'Nude Study'.

In 1965, De Wit received his first major commission for a sculpture at the new Thorbecke school in Leiden. The theme of ‘Dialogue’ ('Samenspraak') relates to the trend in the 1950s making art accessible to all people. At Galerie Nouvelles Images, The Hague, an avant-gard gallery, he was allowed to participate in the Christmas exhibition in 1963 and 1965. At the exhibition ‘Timeframe ‘65’ at the Hortus Botanicus in Leiden, De Wit exhibits a torso. The Museum de Lakenhal receives a new director M.L. Wurfbain who makes progressive changes to the exhibition and acquisition policies, from which De Wit will later benefit. Despite the commissions and exhibitions, De Wit searches for other sources of income. Frans de Wit avoids joining the government support for artists (Contraprestatie), as he wants to preserve his creative freedom. He works as a freelancer at the silversmith firm Royal Van Kempen & Begeer in Voorschoten, specializing in bronze casting. Also the scrap bin of Van Kempen & Begeer becomes a source of inspiration. De Wit turns left over cutlery or pressing molds into stunning artworks in which the opposites of light and shadow, organic and geometric, open and closed forms find a balance in rhythmic displays. His first solo exhibition in 1969, were he shows these new works at Galerie Nouvelles Images in The Hague, is ‘a roaring success’ according to the renowned art critic Lambert Tegenbosch of the newspaper De Volkskrant. In 1970 De Wit receives the Jacob Hartog award for ‘Relief with Apple’, which is made out of 826 knife blades and a bronze cast of an apple.

During this turbulent period, Frans de Wit worked laboriously and unceasingly at this studio. He frequented contemporary art exhibitions that inspired his participation in the changes in society and stimulated the creation of his visual language, established on the innovation of craftsmanship. Interviews with family and friends reveal that De Wit greatly respected the works of Constantin Brancusi, André Volten, Carel Visser, Shinkichi Tajiri, Eduardo Chillida and Richard Serra. The conceptual nature of Minimal Art and its out-of-the-atelier production were not to De Wit’s hands-on liking. Nonetheless, what interested De Wit, was Minimal Art’s back-to-basics, serial productions, usage of new industrial materials, large formats and correlating the sculpture to its location. De Wit makes every work himself from beginning to end, even when it is enormous in size. He is eager to learn how to handle professional machines (e.g. cutting torches) that are needed to make sculptures of the new industrial materials cortensteel and rvs. He focusses on the skin of the sculptures. It should reveal the process of making it by hand.

1967 was a fruitful year for De Wit, making advancements in forming his visual language. He experiments with casting natural materials like the foliage of trees and plants. De Wit also conceives new works of rocket-like towers that incorporate welded circular car parts, such as gears and screw threads, serving as a starting point. He proceeds to create abstract sculptures with rhythmic repetitions of bars and series of large and small circles or rectangles. In 1967, Frans de Wit experimented with new materials and techniques. He initiates projects with a selection of hyper-realistic details in bronze and proceeds to assemble real machine parts into compositions, combining realism and abstraction in these sculptures. By 1968, he incorporated the indestructible and formidable material, solid steel to become part of his visual language. This material will continue to challenge him throughout his life.

• 1960-1964 The Hague, Galerie Nouvelles Images (with Marry Hovig)

• 1965 Leiden, Hortus Botanicus, 'Era '65' - The Hague, Galerie Nouvelles Images

• 1967 The Hague, Pulchri Studio - Leiden, Galerie van der Vlist (with Rob Clous) - Leiden, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal

• 1969 Amsterdam, Museum Fodor, 50th anniversary of KLM /Heineken - Utrecht, Centraal Museum, 'Dutch Sculpture'

• 1964-1960 Den Haag, Galerie Nouvelles Images (met Marry Hovig)

• 1970 The Hague, Pulchri Studio - Lisse, Keukenhof - Hapert, 'Bellfires', plastics and reliefs - De Bilt, 'Sculptures in de Bilt 5' - The Hague, 'Dutch Art' - Leiden, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, 'Double image' (with Jan Maaskant, curated by Rudi Fuchs) - The Hague, Galerie Nouvelles Images

• 1971 Middelheim, 11e Biënnale de la Sculpture; Keulen/Hannover, ‘Kunst und Handwerk aus den Niederländen’; Den Haag, Galerie Nouvelles Images (met Dick Cassee); Lisse, Keukenhof

• 1973 Turijn, Christain Stein, ‘Dutch Art’

• 1971 Middelheim, 11th Biennale de la Sculpture - Cologne/Hannover, 'Kunst und Handwerk aus den Niederländen', curated by R.W.D. Oxenaar - The Hague, Galerie Nouvelles Images (with Dick Cassee) - Lisse, Keukenhof

• 1977 Hapert, 'Bellfires Sculpture Frames 1980' - Leiden, studio exhibition - Alblasserdam, 'Wind and Water Objects' - Leiden, De Waag, manifestation 'Eleven Leiden artists'

• 1981 IJzer, Reizende tentoonstelling Nederlandse Kunststichting; De Bilt, ‘Beelden in de Bilt XV Windbeelden’; Leiden, De Waag, ‘Vijf Leidse Kunstenaars’

• 1981 Several locations, Iron, Travelling exhibition Dutch Art Foundation - De Bilt, 'Sculptures in the Bilt XV Wind Sculptures' - Leiden, De Waag, 'Five Leiden Artists'

• 1984 TH Delft, Inside-Outside, a vision of architecture' (with Carel Visser, David van de Kop, Marinus Boezem)

• 1985 Rhoon, 'Sculptures in Rhoon, a selection from 50 years of Dutch sculpture' - Bielefeld, Galerie Elf (with Burkhardt Soll)

• 1988 Rotterdam, Galerie Alles voor 12 & 24 Volt

1989 Wassenaar, 'Paradise Lost, Park raadhuis de Pauw' - Leiden, Beeld '89 Galerie Stelling - Rotterdam, STEK; Leiden, art in mupis - Leiden, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, 'Leiden Ateliers, the 1980s'

• 1989-1990 Leiden, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, 'The 1960s: Action, Art and Culture in Leiden'

• 1990 Leiden, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, 'Collection 1890-1990' - The Hague, Galerie Nouvelles Images - Leiden, de Waag, '24 Leiden Artists'

• 1991 Leiden, Galerie Time is Art - Leiden, Hortus Botanicus (Orangery), The Beech - Amsterdam, Galerie Langenberg

• 1992 Leiden, Galerie Amber, 'Currents in Pancras West I - Leiden, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, 'And then there was light'

• 1993 Leiden, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, 'Five centuries of landscape'

• 1994 Leiden, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, 'Images from the Leiden Collection' - Leiden, CBK, 'Viewed from a distance' (drawings) - Leiden, Ars Aemula Naturae 300 years

• 1994-1995 Heemstede, Het Oude Slot, 'Four Constructions for a Place' (with Bart Kelholt, Herbert Nouwens, Lon Pennock)

• 1996 Heemstede, Het Oude Slot, ‘The Color of the Skin’ - Leiden, Galerie Zichy, ‘transverse’ (with a.o. Pieter Geraedts)

• 1997 Leiden-Oegstgeest, ‘Three locations’

• 1998 Leiden, CBK, ‘Face to face’, artist portraits’ - Leiden, CBK, ‘Currents in Pancras West II’

• 2000 Heemstede, Het Oude Slot, 'Steel in the picture'

2001 Leiden, Galerie Next scorch-prints and drawings - Tytsjerk, ‘Scale & Size - Leiden, studio exhibition with Lon Pennock

•2002 Leiden, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, ‘Image and counterimage. A Leiden Parade'

• 2003 Leiden, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, ‘Light, Sky & Drama, landscapes from our own collection'

• 2006 Leiden, RAP Architectuurcentrum, ‘Circles of Four Artists' (with Kees Buurman, Pieter Geraedts, Thom Geraedts) - Woerden Stadsmuseum, ‘A link with landscape' (work from Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, Leiden with Krijn Giezen, David van de Kop, Carel Visser)

• 2007 Leiden, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, ‘My Last Judgment'

• 1965 Zoeterwoude, School, aluminium plastiek

• 1968 Dialogue, bronze, Thorbeckeschool, Churchilllaan/5 meilaan, Leiden

• 1971 'Elements', corten steel, Voorschoten ‘Plastiek’ or 'Elements', stainless steel, Centrum Vakopleiding voor Volwassenen, Utrecht

• 1972-1974 'Elements', corten steel, Regional Labour Office and Tax Building, Zutphen

1974 ‘Reliëf on outer façade’ corten steel, Vakschool voor meisjes, Leiden, will soon be relocated on Meelfabriek Leiden. ‘Sculpture’, corten steel, De la Salle mavo, Baarle-Nassau ‘Without Title’, steel, Sociale Academie Rotterdam (sculpture is destroyed) Restoration of sculpture 'Victoria', Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

• 1974-1975 ‘Without Title’ or ‘Grow’, Corten steel, Bant

• 1977 ‘Sculpture’, concrete, Business Technical School Leiden ‘Steel sculpture’, Ter Aar ‘Two Water skin blocks’, New York

• 1972-1981 'Boog', steel, yellow paint, Merenwijk, Leiden

• 1982 ‘Flag’ solid steel, forecourt town hall Heerhugowaard, now relocated to Reuzen Panda Singel ‘Without Title, Steel, Scholengemeenschap Beneden Maas (nu Albadacollege), Vlaardingen Restoration of sculptures tomb of Willem van Oranje, Nieuwe Kerk, Delft

• 1983-1984 ‘Middle screen’ of ‘Calandcanal Windscreen’, concrete and rvs strip (in collaboration with architect Maarten Struijs), Port of Rotterdam

• 1984-1985 ‘Without Title’, bronze and steel Dordrecht, Regional Labour Office, now relocated in private garden

• 1985-1986 ‘Continuous Movement’, steel, stainless steel, red paint, Haaswijk Oegstgeest and several other locations, now stored until relocated.

• 1986-1987 'Two Rings', stainless steel, Lucas van Leijdenschool, Leiden

• 1986-1992 ‘Climbing Wall and Double Disc in Course Rubble Hill’, concrete and course rubble, Spaarnwoude

• 1988 Commemorative plaque Gerard Noodt, bronze, Leiden Bronze plaque Hooglandse kerk, Leiden

• 1989 Commemorative plaque former Jewish Orphanage, bronze, Leiden

• 1992 Commemorative medal new construction of the Lower House of the States General, cut steel, Rijksgebouwendienst, The Hague

• 1993-1996 'Square Island in the Lake', concrete, Rotterdam Prinsenland

• 1994 Reuvens monument, two bronze corner sculptures, Rijksmuseum of Antiquities, Leiden

• 1995 Huizinga plaque, bronze, Leiden

• 1996 ‘The Steel House’, façade cladding with text of Jan Kleingeld, corten steel plates, Filmhuis Doelenpoort, Delft Design Mia van IJperen medal, borough of Prins Alexander, Rotterdam; Rotterdam, Small bronze objects Square Island in the Lake, CBK Vision Public space city centre Alphen a/d Rijn (with Ad Koolen)

• 1998 Small bronze object Climbing wall and Double disc in Course Rubble Hilll Recreatieschap Spaarnwoude

• 1996-2002 'Five sculptures on one curve', pressed marine steel Leiden, Museum Naturalis