About the Sculpture

Beniamino Bufano made Hand of Peace from quarter inch copper and used a mallet to shape its contours. There were no torches or molds involved in creating this sculpture. Hammering copper or other metals hardens the material and it gradually becomes brittle and uncooperative, this method requires an enormous effort from the sculptor. Bufano spent five years completing this work. He used mosaic tile to construct the image on the palm and added stained glass between the fingers.

Can you find a mistake in this work? Take a look at the words around the palm mosaic.

Bufano was working upside down to install the lettering from outside the mosaic circle. Did he get confused or did he mean to add an extra “H”? The added letter changes the last word of the familiar “inherit the earth” to hearth.

For a different sense of the scale view Hand of Peace from the second floor of the library. 

About the Artist

Bufano was born in Italy in 1898 and immigrated to New York with his parents when he was three. Bufano made San Francisco his home, and eventually taught at art programs across the Bay Area, including the San Francisco Art Institute, including the San Francisco Art Institute, UC Berkeley, and the California College for the Arts.

Bufano’s signature style is modern, usually with smooth, rounded, semi-abstract figures, animals or other simple shapes. His works are large scale and monumental, and often include colorful mosaic details.

Background

Walnut Creek is grateful to the Chang family, owners of Hand of Peace. The family acquired the sculpture with the purchase of the Quail Court office complex off South Main Street where the piece was placed in 1967.

In 2013, the family had Hand of Peace lovingly restored and returned to the city. They have generously loaned it to Walnut Creek for the next 25 years. It was placed in Civic Park in 2014.

Location: By the Walnut Creek Public Library in Civic Park at 1375 N. Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA

Image Credit: Beniamino Bufano, Hand of Peace, 1967, copper, glass, mosaic. Photo courtesy of Shaun Roberts.