Beniamino Bufano Sites

This public outdoor sculpture "Penguin's Prayer" of three penguins is situated in the Golden Gateway Center at the intersection of Davis Street and Jackson Street in San Francisco, CA. It was created by Beniamino Bufano with WPA funding. The three penguins are all carved out of the same porphyry granite. The larger penguin is looking skyward behind the two smaller penguins that face each other. The sculpture was originally made for the Treasure Island Golden Gate Exposition of 1939.

Beniamino Bufano created two sculptures for the Maritime Museum in 1942 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. "Seal" is a red granite sculpture, and "Animal" a black one.

Beniamino Bufano's brown granite sculptures of a seal and a frog were completed in 1942 with the help of Federal Art Project (FAP) funds. They sit  on the bayside exterior porch of the visitors center.

Two granite sculptures by Beniamino Bufano decorate the San Francisco State University campus. The "Head of St. Francis" stands in the main quadrangle near the walkway between the Business and Student Centers. The 4' sculpture of a male torso is in the courtyard between the HHS and Business buildings.

"Abstract full-length portrait of Louis Pasteur. The red granite figure wears a cape and belt of stainless steel. The cape is decorated with twenty-two stainless steel round buttons. The sculpture stands on a concrete pedestal base." "The sculpture was created as a WPA (Works Progress Administration) project, and the school paid $300 for materials. It was originally in a glade by the school's art building, but around 1959 was knocked down by vandals and the figure's nose was damaged. The sculpture was reinstalled in a landscaped area by the school's Science building. In September 1969, the artist attempted to remove the...

This 14-foot-tall stainless steel and granite sculpture of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, founder of the Chinese Republic, was sculpted by Beniamino Bufano and completed in 1937 with FAP funds.  "Revered as the 'Father of Modern China,' Sun Yat-sen visited San Francisco in the early 1900s and often relaxed in St. Mary's Square." (Guide.)  

This WPA sculpture "Bear and Head" by Beniamino Bufano was created in 1935 and placed here in 1945. It measures 5'4" long and 3' wide, and is carved from black granite.

From the New Deal Art Registry: "At the Valencia Gardens Housing Project, Beniamino Bufano's glistening statue of a mother bear nursing two cubs, in smooth red granite, is a joy to the eye. Nearby are two granite seals, a granite cat with a mouse, and a granite butterfly."

"At the Valencia Gardens Housing Project, Bufano's glistening statue of a mother bear nursing two cubs, in smooth red granite, is a joy to the eye. Nearby are two granite seals, a granite cat with a mouse, and a granite butterfly." -Nob Hill Gazette

An 8' x 6' black granite sculpture of "St. Francis on Horseback" by Beniamino Bufano located in the central courtyard of the project. It was made in 1935 but not placed here until 1945.