Salvatore Scarpitta was born in Italy and studied in Palermo and Rome at the Royal Italian Academy. In 1910, he emigrated to the United States, first living in New York and then moving to Los Angeles in 1923. He was best known for busts of prominent figures, including composer Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), actress Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992), and dictator Benito Mussolini (1883-1945). Of the latter, he created a bust in Rome and a replica for the Italian Embassy in Washington. Scarpitta’s large-scale reliefs adorn the Los Angeles Stock Exchange Building and Los Angeles County General Hospital, among others. He was married to Ukrainian sculptor Nadia Yarotsky (1897-1997). Their son Salvatore (1919-2007) also became a well-known sculptor.