BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

Vito Salvatore Maria Cianci

May 1 1907 - September 24 1994

Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts
P.A.S.O.V.A.S.


Vito Cianci was born in Vancouver. His 1932 marriage certificate stated that he was born at "565 Union Street, Vancouver." Both of his parents were from Italy. He was a member of PASOVAS, the Pioneer Art Students of Vancouver Art School, an artist's group formed in 1930 from the students who entered the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts in its first year and a half of classes in 1925 and 1926.

Cianci started classes at the VSDAA in 1925, while living at 1801 East 7th Avenue in Vancouver. He wrote three articles for the June 1926 issue of The Paint Box, the art school's annual: The Old Man Speaks Out, Reflections of a Model, and In the Domain of Science. For the Spring 1927 issue of The Paint Box he wrote Art Students and Playwrights, and a poem titled So Much For Impressionism. According to Salloum, Cianci was also Charles H. Scott's personal secretary for part of the time that he attended the art school. He did not graduate from the art school.

Cianci married Sybil Lyall Hill on September 1 1932 in Vancouver. Cianci was listed on the marriage certificate as a teacher, he was employed by the Vancouver School Board. The witnesses on the certificate were Beatrice Lennie and Madge Farmer. The couple later divorced.

He later married Eryl Charles Edwards (q.v.), who predeceased him in 1971.

He died a widower in 1994 in Kamloops, BC.


GROUP EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION ARTWORK
1932 Sept. 17 - 30 PASOVAS   Club Exhibition "Jimmy Chicken's Island"
1936 Feb. 21 - Mar. 5 PASOVAS Annual Group Show (photography)

References

Vancouver School of Decorative & Applied Arts - List of Students

FROM DESOLATION TO SPLENDOUR (refer to FDTS77)

UNDERLYING VIBRATIONS - The Photography and Life of John Vanderpant
      1995, Horsdal & Schubart Publishers, Victoria, BC, by Sheryl Salloum
      ISBN 0-920663-40-0 (96 pages, paperback)
      Numerous references and quotations for Cianci.

THE LIFE AND ART OF HARRY AND JESSIE WEBB (refer to MTP14)
      Includes references to Sybil and Vito Cianci.

B.C. VITAL STATISTICS ON-LINE marriage, death (refer to BCVS)

Clippings

"Other contributors include: Vito Cianci, the editor; ..."
      From "The Paint Box Is Annual of Vancouver Art School"
      unknown newspaper, June 1927

"The committee in charge of arrangements included Miss Margaret Williams, Miss Beatrice Lennie, Miss Frances Gatewood, Miss Phyllis Kirkpatrick, Miss Beatrice Bell-Irving, Miss Ellen Moore, and Mr. Vito Cianci."
      From "Ogopogo Yawns On Gay Crowd At Bal Masque"
      unknown newspaper, October 20 1927

"Handicrafts are practically a minus quantity, but there is one new departure in the field of photography. Vito Cianci has brought this phase of art to the present exhibition."
      From "PASOVAS EXHIBIT - Pioneer Art Students' Show"
      Vancouver Province, February 21 1936

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