He studied at the Art Students League of New York during 19131915 with sculptors Herbert Adams, Paul Manship, and James Earle Fraser and assisted them with their work; he also assisted Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney) at her home studio in Roslyn, New York in about 1913. The relationship ended abruptly as Bufano, charged with making maquettes from Mrs. Whitney's sketches, consistently altered them to his own design. After he ignored several requests to reproduce the sketches as they were, Mrs. Whitney lost patience and smashed Bufano's sculptures on the floor. He resigned on the spot.