Bufano “Peace”

The thirty-eight-foot-tall Peace sculpture was designed by artist Beniamino Bufano in 1938 and 1939. The stainless-steel missile-shaped Madonna figure includes a central glass tile mosaic inlay depicting the Universal Child. It was originally located at the San Francisco Airport before being moved to its current location on Brotherhood Way in 1996.

Beniamino “Benny” Bufano was a renowned local figure in the San Francisco Bay Area, famous for being politically outspoken and artistically creative. He was commissioned to create several monumental sculptures, many of which can still be found in public spaces throughout San Francisco.

ARG Conservation Services (ARG/CS) was contracted by the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) to conduct a conditions assessment and perform conservation treatments on the sculpture after it was moved to its current location. The goals of the project were to perform non-destructive testing to determine the best method to clean the artwork and stabilize corrosion, execute the preferred method for cleaning and stabilizing corrosion, install a sacrificial wax coating to the stainless steel, selectively re-grout mosaic elements, install an anti-graffiti coating to the polished stone based, weatherproof the artwork, and fill the gap at the top rear elevation of the sculpture.