"Beniamino Bufano was widely recognized for his skilled craftsmanship & unique designs in sculpture. He worked on a grand scale, creating pieces that had mass & stature always with smooth edges & slick surfaces. He was born in San-Fele (Italy) in 1898 [sic], but moved to New York City with his family when he was still very young. Although he was educated by private tutors in his childhood, Bufano went on to study art at the Art Students League in New York in 1913." /// "Some of his best-known works include the statue of Chinese leader Sun Yat-sen in San Francisco's Chinatown, his 93-foot (28 m) sculpture Peace in coastal Timber Cove (near Jenner, California) and his Bear & Cubs at Kauikeaouli Hale in Honolulu, Hawaii. Examples of his distinctive& large-scale work can be found throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, & there is a Bufano Sculpture Garden at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland."

1915 - "Peace," near Lake Merced, San Francisco, California (USA). By Benny Bufano [1890-1970]. Won first prize ($500) in the "Immigrant in America" contest...over 100 other submissions. Theodore Roosevelt singled out Bufano for praise and asked to meet him... Bufano chopped off his trigger finger and sent it to President Woodrow Wilson at the onset of World War I as a protest against the war." "Graced the entrance of San Francisco International Airport (SFO) for nearly four decades, is now located near Lake Merced."

1962 - "Peace," Timber Cove Inn, near Jenner, Sonoma County, California (USA). 72-foot tall obelisk by the naive/abstract Italian-born San Francisco sculptor Beniamino (Benny) Bufano [1890-1970]. Officially named "The Expanding Universe." Begun in September 1962, just weeks before the Cuban Missile Crisis, the 93-foot-tall [sic] concrete, lead, & mosaic sculpture is adorned with elements of the Madonna, Universal Child & a large, open hand -- themes of peace... From Bufano's perspective, a symbolic 'projectile' recalling the cold war's intercontinental ballistic missiles that in 1962 threatened life on earth... Bufano believed in peace, but he was...eclectic, suspicious, egotistical, occasionally hostile... Yet, Bufano's sculptures still survive &, given their hard material constituents and public ownership, will for years to come. [They] remind us of Bufano's challenge to remain vigilant in our defense of democracy, to cherish world peace, and to honor & protect the planet's children..." Click here for source of this quote.

1967 - "Hand of Peace," Walnut Creek, California (USA). "A monument to peace by a famous artist, who reportedly cut off his trigger finger and sent it to President Woodrow Wilson to protest World War I, may soon adorn a Walnut Creek park. The nearly 5-ton sculpture is made of copper, mosaic & stained glass. The 30-foot-tall open-hand figure has stained glass around the fingers & a mural in the middle of the palm featuring a group of children. Above them, an inscription reads, "The children of the world shall inherit the earth." The sculpture sat relatively unnoticed in an office park in Walnut Creek on Quail Court from 1967 to 2009, when it was taken down for restoration. Four years after Italian-born artist Beniamino Bufano [1890-1970] installed his massive sculpture in Walnut Creek, he died. But now [2012] the family that owns the sculpture has offered to let the city display it prominently for at least the next 25 years. The chosen spot is in downtown's Civic Park."

1968 - St. Francis of the Guns," Science Building, City College of San Francisco, San Francisco, California (USA). After the 1968 shootings of Bobby Kennedy & Martin Luther King Jr, San Francisco's Mayor Joseph Alioto led a voluntary gun turn-in program that accumulated a conveniently symbolic 1,968 weapons. Benny Bufano [1890-1970], an Italian-born Bay Area artist, was tapped to sculpt something with the melted gun metal (he mixed in some bronze so it wouldn't rust in the S.F. Bay dampness). Bufano sculpted "St. Francis of the Guns," a nearly 9-ft tall figure of a robed Catholic saint, his arms spread in peaceful greeting. On his robe, Benny created a mosaic mural showing the glowing heads of four of America's greatest assassinated leaders: Abe Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy & John F. Kennedy. The naive caricatures capture all four with worried frowns.

1970 - Plaques above Bufano's grave, Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma, California (USA). Includes prayer of Saint Francis - Prince of Peace - to the human congregation of the United Nations..."

1983 - Bufano Sculpture Garden, Homewood Campus, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Towson, Maryland (USA). The Bufano collection at Homewood includes Bactrian Camel, Bear & Cubs, Dromedary Camel, Snail, Ram, Elephant, Penguin, Penguins Praying, Cat & Horse.