Mario Joseph Korbel was born in Bohemia, later a part of Czechoslovakia, in 1882.  He studied art there, and at the age of 18 came to the United States and settled in Chicago. After five years he returned to Europe, studying in Berlin, at the Royal Academy, Munich, and in Paris at the Academie Julian.  He returned to the United States, spending time in New York City, Chicago, and eventually in 1913 he settled in New York. During the 1920s, Korbel’s most significant sponsor was George Booth, the owner of the Detroit News.

He worked in bronze, often experimenting with this media, trying new patinas and textures. He often depicted idealized female nudes, and worked in the neoclassical style. Korbel was an Associate Member of the National Academy of Design, 1937; and full member of the Nation Academy of Design, 1944.  His works are in a number of public collections, and he completed commissions for the state of Illinois, the McPhee Memorial in Denver, the University of Havana, Cuba, the Czech National Council, and the British-American Ambulance Corps.