At the age of 27, Beniamino Bufano was described by the New York Times as showing “promise of being one of the few enduringly important sculptors that America, if she can claim him, has had. . . he does not depend on his hands alone. . . he works with his convictions and with his aesthetic principles. . .”

Born on October 14, 1888 in San Fele, a small rural town in the southern Italian region of Basilicata, Bufano was brought to America by his parents as a young child. Settling in New York, Bufano began studying art at an early age at the Art Students League under the celebrated sculptors James E. Frazer, Herbert Adams, and Paul Manship.