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Beniamino Bufano
Beniamino "Bene" Bufano (October 15, 1890 – August 18, 1970) was an Italian American sculptor, best known for his large-scale monuments representing peace and his modernist work which often featured smoothly rounded animals and relatively simple shapes. He worked in ceramics, stone, stainless steel, and mosaic, sometimes combining two or more of these media; some of his works are cast stone replicas. He used a variety of names and sometimes went by the name Benvenuto Bufano because he admired Benvenuto Cellini. His youthful nickname was "Bene," which was often anglicized into "Benny." He lived in northern California for much of his career.
Bufano was born in San Fele, Italy. He came to the United States in 1901, with his mother and siblings. The family eventually settled down in New York when Bufano was still young. One source says Bufano's was one eleven siblings who came the U.S.; another source puts the figure at sixteen; Bufano once said he was one of fifteen children.
The date of Bufano's birth is uncertain. The year 1890, attributed here, appears on Bufano's death certificate and grave. Yet his birth year is variously cited between 1886 and 1898. It is equally difficult to determine the accuracy of many of the stories Bufano told about his life. Although a 1972 biography by Howard Wilkening and Sonia Brown is based on interviews with the artist and extensive research, it is not conclusive. As the artist admitted, "I just told each person not only what I thought he wanted to hear, but I related it in the way I thought appropriate for him." Another biography, published ten years after Bufano's death by his ex-wife Virginia Howard Lewin, includes many stories she would have heard from him. As she wrote, "Benny revived lying, made it an art and a way of life, a way to get along in a cockeyed world. Yet lying is a misleading word to explain the thought processes of the little artist. If he lied, he was not aware of being dishonest—he was nonmoral, like a child." The only biography with footnotes is the limited-edition volume by Lois Rather published in 1975 and focusing on Bufano's dealings with the federal government.
He studied at the Art Students League of New York during 1913–1915 with sculptors Herbert Adams, Paul Manship, and James Earle Fraser and assisted them with their work; he also assisted Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney) at her home studio in Roslyn, New York in about 1913. The relationship ended abruptly as Bufano, charged with making maquettes from Mrs. Whitney's sketches, consistently altered them to his own design. After he ignored several requests to reproduce the sketches as they were, Mrs. Whitney lost patience and smashed Bufano's versions of her sculptures on the floor. He resigned on the spot.
In the fall of 1914, Paul Manship invited Bufano to work with Robert Treat Paine on a commission Manship had received for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition.[circular reference] Bufano rented a room in San Francisco's Chinatown, made some friends there, and became fascinated with Chinese art. He was given additional sculpture projects at the exposition, panels for the Arches of Triumph and a festoon over the main door of the Palace of Fine Arts.
After returning to New York in 1915, Bufano entered a nationwide art competition and exhibit on the theme "The Immigrant in America". Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney funded the contest, and the exhibit was held in the Whitney Studio Club at 8 West 8th Street in Greenwich Village, which Whitney established to exhibit the work of young artists. The Immigrants in America Review administered the contest. Frances Kellor, who had been top committeewoman in former President Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party, headed the Review. Roosevelt visited the exhibit of the 100 works entered in the contest, which added to its prestige and the acclaim of its prize winners. Bufano, then a virtual unknown in the art world (although known to Mrs. Whitney), won the first prize of $500 with a sculpture, titled The Group, depicting more than a dozen bowed figures, headed by a child. The New York Times reported on Roosevelt's visit to the exhibit. Roosevelt used the occasion to inveigh against cubist art, but singled out "Bennie" Bufano's prize-winning sculpture for praise. "Wonderful work", he exclaimed to the Times, "I should like to meet the sculptor."
Shortly after the United States entered World War I in 1917, Bufano accidentally cut off half of his right index finger. He decided to mail the "trigger finger" to President Woodrow Wilson as a protest against the war. He allowed a legend to develop that he had intentionally severed the finger for this purpose.
Later in 1917 he returned to California and rented a studio in Pasadena, where he sculpted portrait heads and took philosophy classes. But he decided San Francisco was where he most wanted to live, and it became his home base for the rest of his life, although he would travel extensively.
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Beniamino Bufano
Beniamino "Bene" Bufano (October 15, 1890 – August 18, 1970) was an Italian American sculptor, best known for his large-scale monuments representing peace and his modernist work which often featured smoothly rounded animals and relatively simple shapes. He worked in ceramics, stone, stainless steel, and mosaic, sometimes combining two or more of these media; some of his works are cast stone replicas. He used a variety of names and sometimes went by the name Benvenuto Bufano because he admired Benvenuto Cellini. His youthful nickname was "Bene," which was often anglicized into "Benny." He lived in northern California for much of his career.
Bufano was born in San Fele, Italy. He came to the United States in 1901, with his mother and siblings. The family eventually settled down in New York when Bufano was still young. One source says Bufano's was one eleven siblings who came the U.S.; another source puts the figure at sixteen; Bufano once said he was one of fifteen children.
The date of Bufano's birth is uncertain. The year 1890, attributed here, appears on Bufano's death certificate and grave. Yet his birth year is variously cited between 1886 and 1898. It is equally difficult to determine the accuracy of many of the stories Bufano told about his life. Although a 1972 biography by Howard Wilkening and Sonia Brown is based on interviews with the artist and extensive research, it is not conclusive. As the artist admitted, "I just told each person not only what I thought he wanted to hear, but I related it in the way I thought appropriate for him." Another biography, published ten years after Bufano's death by his ex-wife Virginia Howard Lewin, includes many stories she would have heard from him. As she wrote, "Benny revived lying, made it an art and a way of life, a way to get along in a cockeyed world. Yet lying is a misleading word to explain the thought processes of the little artist. If he lied, he was not aware of being dishonest—he was nonmoral, like a child." The only biography with footnotes is the limited-edition volume by Lois Rather published in 1975 and focusing on Bufano's dealings with the federal government.
He studied at the Art Students League of New York during 1913–1915 with sculptors Herbert Adams, Paul Manship, and James Earle Fraser and assisted them with their work; he also assisted Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney) at her home studio in Roslyn, New York in about 1913. The relationship ended abruptly as Bufano, charged with making maquettes from Mrs. Whitney's sketches, consistently altered them to his own design. After he ignored several requests to reproduce the sketches as they were, Mrs. Whitney lost patience and smashed Bufano's versions of her sculptures on the floor. He resigned on the spot.
In the fall of 1914, Paul Manship invited Bufano to work with Robert Treat Paine on a commission Manship had received for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition.[circular reference] Bufano rented a room in San Francisco's Chinatown, made some friends there, and became fascinated with Chinese art. He was given additional sculpture projects at the exposition, panels for the Arches of Triumph and a festoon over the main door of the Palace of Fine Arts.
After returning to New York in 1915, Bufano entered a nationwide art competition and exhibit on the theme "The Immigrant in America". Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney funded the contest, and the exhibit was held in the Whitney Studio Club at 8 West 8th Street in Greenwich Village, which Whitney established to exhibit the work of young artists. The Immigrants in America Review administered the contest. Frances Kellor, who had been top committeewoman in former President Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party, headed the Review. Roosevelt visited the exhibit of the 100 works entered in the contest, which added to its prestige and the acclaim of its prize winners. Bufano, then a virtual unknown in the art world (although known to Mrs. Whitney), won the first prize of $500 with a sculpture, titled The Group, depicting more than a dozen bowed figures, headed by a child. The New York Times reported on Roosevelt's visit to the exhibit. Roosevelt used the occasion to inveigh against cubist art, but singled out "Bennie" Bufano's prize-winning sculpture for praise. "Wonderful work", he exclaimed to the Times, "I should like to meet the sculptor."
Shortly after the United States entered World War I in 1917, Bufano accidentally cut off half of his right index finger. He decided to mail the "trigger finger" to President Woodrow Wilson as a protest against the war. He allowed a legend to develop that he had intentionally severed the finger for this purpose.
Later in 1917 he returned to California and rented a studio in Pasadena, where he sculpted portrait heads and took philosophy classes. But he decided San Francisco was where he most wanted to live, and it became his home base for the rest of his life, although he would travel extensively.
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