Carmen Bonanno was born in New York in 1901 but at the age of nine years old journeyed to Italy. He attended various schools in both Southern Italy and Sicily before entering an art school in Rome. He then supported himself by painting murals and sacred pictures in a number of churches. Bonanno returned to New York in 1931 and studied printmaking at the Art Students' League.

During the Second World War, Bonanno served with the U.S. forces as an aviation engineer in both North Africa and in Italy.  During the war and after its conclusion the artist worked upon a number of fine drypoints and etchings, which were published by Associated American Artists in New York. 

His work is in the collections of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Art, Beach Museum of Art at Kansas State University, Butler Museum of American Art, the Carnegie Museum of Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.