GIAN BERTO VANNI: CURRICULUM VITAE


Gian Berto Vanni was born in Rome, Italy, in 1927. He lived and worked in Rome, Paris, New York, and Kythira, Greece. He passed away in Kythira in 2017.


1942-45
Studies with Futurist artist and theorist Alberto Bragaglia

1943
Follows musicology courses of Roman Vlad, organized by composer Alfredo Casella
Works on a short animation movie Piccolo Budda, considered a pioneer work in Italian animation

1943-44
Studies drawing and painting with Giorgio Hinna at Villa Strolh Fern, Rome

1946-47
Studies nude drawing at the Accademia di San Luca, Rome

1947
Enrolls at the Facoltà di Architettura, University of Rome. Studies with Pier Luigi Nervi
Works as script supervisor for a movie directed by Michal Waszynski, Fiamme sul Mare
Designs the stage set for two theater productions in Rome

1948
Wins Diomira painting prize, Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Italy

1949
Painting scholarship, Amsterdam, Holland. Studies with Vordemberge-Gildevart
Studies old master’s painting techniques at the restoration laboratory of the Rijksmuseum

1949-54
Temporarely returns to Italy to work on several documentaries on art and architecture directed by Valerio Zurlini, Michele Gandin, Francesco Maselli, Guido Guerrasio and others

1950
Moves to Paris, France

1952
Wins Fullbright scholarship for painting: Studies with Josef Albers at Yale University New Haven, CT
Attends weekly the house of Arturo Toscanini. The conversations with the Maestro teach him the importance of interpretation

1953
Returns to live in Paris, France
Creates Love: a book of découpage and serigraphs on a text by Lowell A. Siff
Designs color scheme for a 100 apartments housing project for the city of Villejuif,
France. Joins a group of architects on color research for the Cité Satellite

1954
Color consultant on the documentary movie by Luciano Emmer on Picasso

1957
Wins First prize awarded by the Club des Editeurs, Paris, France, for his illustrations of the children’s book Contes de Cristal

1958
Lives in New New York for one year
Wins First prize awarded by the Club des Editeurs, Paris, France, for his illustrations of the children’s book La Craie Magique

1959
Returns to Paris, France

1960
Returns to live in Rome, Italy

1963-76
Creates ca. 800 designs and organizes workshops in France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Turkey, Tunisia, Israel, and Morocco, to print in silkscreen pareos for Club Med

1966
Works for one year in Agadir, Morocco, travelling extensively through the country
Wins First prize of the Rhein-Tiber Painting Award, Koln, Germany

1969
Creates 28 silkscreen monotypes for the Shah’s Palace, Kish Island, Iran
Shoots Two Awakenings in Three Times, an abstract Super-8 movie

1969-74
Works on translucent bas-reliefs animated by projections of abstract movies to produce paintings in constant three-dimensional and temporal transformation

1970
Shoots One Two Three: Go, an abstract Super-8 movie

1976-80
Designs and builds a house and painting studio on the Island of Kythira, Greece

1979
Moves to New York City

1983
Teaches at New York Technical College, CUNY, Brooklyn, NY

1984-2014
Teaches Color Interaction and Old Masters Painting Techniques at the The Cooper Union School of Art, New York, NY

1986
Lectures at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY

1987
Visiting Professor at Hunter College, CUNY, New York, NY

1988
Artist in residence, York College, CUNY, Jamaica, NY

1988-2016
Travels extensively in Asia, Middle East, and Central America to study the relationships between cultures and figurative arts


ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS

1948
Galleria Margherita, Rome, Italy (Cat.)

1955
Galleria Schneider, Rome, Italy (Cat.)

1957
Carnet de Voyage d’un Peintre Abstrait, presented by André Bay, Salle des Entretiens Culturels Franco-Italiens, Paris, France

1960
Galleria Schneider, Rome, Italy (Cat.)

1961
Galleria Schneider, Rome, Italy (Cat.)
Seligman Gallery, Seattle, WA (Cat.)

1962
Seligman Gallery, Seattle, WA (Cat.)

1963
Galleria Schneider, Rome, Italy (Cat.)

1964
Seligman Gallery, Seattle, WA (Cat.)

1965
Galleria “88”, Rome, Italy (Cat.)

1968
Galleria Rizzoli, Rome, Italy (Cat.)
Galleria Rizzoli, Milan, Italy (Cat.)

1970
Pierre Tisné, Paris, France

1973
Galleria Schneider, Rome, Italy (Cat.)

1977
Gian Berto Vanni. Opere dal 1950 al 1977, Galleria Nuovo Carpine, Rome, Italy (Cat.)

1979
Centre Culturel Français, Rome, Italy (Cat.)

1983
Art Attack Gallery, Columbus, OH
Juda Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (Cat.)
Hosun Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (Cat.)
Nishida Gallery, Nara, Japan (Cat.)
Gallery M, Obama, Fukui Prefecture, Japan (Cat.)
Seijo Gallery, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan (Cat.)
Chikugo Gallery, Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan (Cat.)

1984
Burgundy Gallery, New York, NY

1985
Grace Gallery, New York Technical College, Brooklyn, NY

1989
Galleria Schneider, Rome, Italy (Cat.)
Galerie 88, Luxembourg

2008
Gallery Toko No Wasuremono, Tokyo, Japan
Zeidoros Gallery, Kythira, Greece

2009
Six Decades of Gian Berto Vanni, Space Green, New York, NY (Cat.)
President’s Gallery, Cooper Union School of Art, New York, NY (Cat.)

2015
Landscapes of the Mind, Arco Gallery, New York, NY (Cat.)
Beneath the Surface, Village West Gallery, Jersey City, NJ

2019
Gian Berto Vanni: Figures and Myths, Arco Gallery, Artsy online exhibition

2020
Under The Influence of the Moon, Arco Gallery, Artsy online exhibition

2021
Beyond the Surface, Anderson Contemporary and Arco Gallery, New York, NY (Cat.)
Gian Berto Vanni: Figures and Myths, Arco Gallery, Artsy online exhibition
Gian Berto Vanni, Village West Gallery, Art Fair 14C, Jersey City, NJ

2023
Gian Berto Vanni: Memory and Metamorphosis, Arco Gallery, Artnet online exhibition


GROUP EXHIBITIONS

1948
Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Italy. Awarded Diomira prize.

1950
Premio Nazionale di Pittura, Cremona, Italy (Cat.)

1951
VI Quadriennale Nazionale d’Arte, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy (Cat.)

1955
VII Quadriennale Nazionale d’Arte, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy (Cat.)

1959
VIII Quadriennale Nazionale d’Arte, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy (Cat.)
Seligman Gallery, Seattle, WA (Cat.)

1960
Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Astratta, Palazzo Pretorio, Prato, Italy (Cat.)

1961
Seligman Gallery, Seattle, WA (Cat.)

1962
Terrain Vague, Paris, France

1963
IV Rassegna di Arti Figurative di Roma e del Lazio, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy (Cat.)
Mostra Nazionale d’Arte Contemporanea, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy (Cat.)
Seligman Gallery, Seattle, WA (Cat.)

1964
The Eason Collection, The University of Oklahoma Museum of Art, Norman, OK
ACA Anna Frank Foundation
Galleria Schneider, Rome, Italy

1965
Giovani Pittori Romani di Oggi - Junge Maler von Heute aus Rom, Italian Cultural Institute, Koln, Germany (Cat.)
Italian Artists Today, Rome-Chicago Gallery, Chicago, IL
III Premio Nazionale di Pittura, Cinisello Balsamo, Milan, Italy (Cat.)
IX Quadriennale Nazionale d’Arte, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy (Cat.)
V Rassegna di Arti Figurative di Roma e del Lazio, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy (Cat.)
Galleria Pogliani, Rome, Italy
18 Artists from Italy, The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC (Cat.)
27 Artists from Italy, Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC (Cat.)
27 Artists from Italy, Ackland Art Center, Chapel Hill, NC (Cat.)

1966
Rhein-Tiber Prize, Koln, Germany. Awarded first prize (Cat.)
A Selection from the Artists of the Seligman Gallery, Seligman Gallery, Seattle, WA (Cat.)
27 Artists from Italy, Gibbes Art Gallery, Charleston, SC (Cat.)
Thirty Artists from Italy, The Renaissance Society, University of Chicago. Chicago, IL (Cat.)
Rassegna d’Arte Contemporanea, Bologna, Italy (Cat.)

1967
Arte Contemporanea in Emilia e Romagna, Museo Civico, Bologna, Italy (Cat.)

1970
Galleria Schneider, Rome, Italy

1973
Galleria Schneider, Rome, Italy

1975
Galleria Nuovo Carpine, Rome, Italy

1978
Galleria Nuovo Carpine, Rome, Italy

1980
Galleria Nuovo Carpine, Rome, Italy

1982
Renneth Gallery, West Hampton, NY

1983
Focus Three, New York, NY

1985
Ann Jacob Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Hunter Gallery, New York, NY

1985
Schulte Galleries, New York, NY

1986
Galleria Nuovo Carpine, Rome, Italy

1987
Houghton Gallery, Cooper Union School of Art, New York, NY
Galleria Schneider, Rome, Italy

1989
Landscape: A Travelogue Painted from Memory, Imagination or Reality, Ruth Siegel Gallery, New York, NY

1992
Art, Architecture and Animation – Computer-Generated Images, York College, Jamaica, NY

1995
Painting Faculty, Houghton Gallery, Cooper Union School of Art, New York, NY (Cat.)

1997
2nd Annual Loft Pioneer Show, The Puffin Room, New York, NY

1999
Museo d’Arte delle Generazioni Italiane del ‘900 (MAGI 900), Pieve di Cento, Bologna, Italy (Cat.)
4th Annual Loft Pioneer Show, The Puffin Room, New York, NY

2008
Noumenon: An Exploration of Contemporary Abstract Art in the Beyondness of Things curated by Megakles Rogakos, The American College of Greece Art Gallery, Athens, Greece

2009
Zeidoros Gallery, Kythira, Greece

2012
Twentieth Century Italian/american and Italian Artists, Susanna J. Fichera Fine Art, Brunswick, ME

2014
Arco Gallery, Affordable Art Fair, New York, NY
Petits Formats & Works on Paper, Arco Gallery, New York, NY
Arco Gallery, Aqua Art Fair, Miami Beach, FL
Paper Reveries, Shirley Fiterman Art Center, Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, New York, NY

2015
Arco Gallery, Affordable Art Fair, New York, NY
The Gallery, Kythira, Greece

2016
Arco Gallery, Art on Paper, New York, NY
Vanishing Worlds, Village West Gallery, Jersey City, NJ

2017
The Four Seasons, Village West Gallery, Jersey City, NJ

2021
Footprints, Pilgrim Contemporary, Arthub Studios, Deptford, UK


ORIGINAL PRINT EDITIONS

1950
Five lithographs for the novel Agostino by Alberto Moravia, Amsterdam, Holland

1979
Four Serigraphs, edition 100. Galleria Nuovo Carpine, Rome, Italy

1981
The Four Elements, Eight Etchings, Edition 100. Bradford Arts, Philadelphia, PA

1982
Five Reflections on an Island, portfolio of six etchings on poems by John Stathatos, Edition 40. Umber Press, New York, NY, and London, GB

1983
Three etchings, edition 40, and one lithograph, edition 50, Gendhai Hanga, Tokyo, Japan

1986
Burst, Etching, Edition 40. Edizioni Vigna Antoniniana, Rome, Italy

1987
Metamorphosis, Etching, Edition 40. Edizioni Vigna Antoniniana, Rome, Italy

1988
Menhir, Etching, Edition 40. Artist in residence, York College, Jamaica, NY


PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Musei Civici, Milan, Italy
West Holland Museum, Amsterdam, Holland
House of Representatives, Rome, Italy
Stadtliche Kunstverhein, Koln, Germany
Seattle Museum of Art, Seattle, Washington
Museo d’Arte delle Generazioni Italiane del ‘900 (MAGI 900), Pieve di Cento, Bologna, Italy


BIBLIOGRAPHY

1943
Animazione, Cinema, Rome, Italy. January 10

1948
Valerio Mariani, Gian Berto Vanni, Exhibition catalog, Galleria La Margherita, Rome, Italy
Valerio Mariani, Scoperta nella tavolozza. Presentazione di Gian Berto Vanni, La fiera letteraria, Rome, Italy. June 13
Valerio Mariani, Forme e Colori, RAI, Rome, Italy. July 5

1949
Farfarello, Dizionario dei Contemporanei: Sezione Pittori e Scultori, Giamberto Vanni, Il Giornale della Sera. November 11
Premio Nazionale di Pittura, Exhibition catalog, Cremona, Italy. May - July

1951
Piero Zanotto & Fiorello Zangrando, L’Italia di Cartone. Rome, Italy
Costantino Baroni, Premio Diomira-1951. 102 Mostra del Naviglio, Exhibition catalog, Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Italy
Sonen av Sodern Dras Till Norden [The Son of the South Drawn to the North], Bonniers Magazine, Nr 10, Stockholm, Sweden

1955
Art, Rome Daily American, Rome, Italy. March 23
Interview de Gian Berto Vanni, RTF Television, Paris, France
Gian Berto Vanni, Exhibition catalog, Galleria Schneider, Rome, Italy
Virgilio Guzzi, G.B. Vanni alla Schneider, Il Tempo, Rome, Italy. April 5
Ettore La Padula, Gian Berto Vanni, Alfabeto, Rome, Italy. January
Marcello Venturoli, G.B. Vanni da Schneider, Paese Sera, Rome, Italy. April 7
Vice, Fantasie magiche di Vanni, La Settimana Incom Illustrata, Rome, Italy. April 2

1956
Interview de Gian Berto Vanni, RTF Television, Paris, France

1958
C.E., Vanni, The Paris Review, Paris, France. Summer

1960
Giuseppe Marchiori, Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Astratta, Exhibition catalog, Palazzo Pretorio, Prato, Italy. June
Gian Berto Vanni, Exhibition Catalog, Galleria Schneider, Rome, Italy
Gianni Rodari, Paese Sera, Rome, Italy. December 22

1961
Virgilio Guzzi, Gian Berto Vanni, Il Tempo, Rome, Italy. November 12
Denis Schneider, Gian Berto Vanni, Exhibition catalog, Galleria Schneider, Rome, Italy
Marcello Venturoli, Vanni alla Schneider, Paese Sera, Rome, Italy. November 7

1962
G. B. Vanni, Un pittore giudica l’architettura, L’Architettura cronache e storia. Director Arch. Bruno Zevi, Rome, Italy. April
Gian Berto Vanni, Exhibition catalogue, Otto Seligman Gallery, Seattle, WA. October

1963
Art from Many Countries, Exhibition catalog, Otto Seligman Gallery, Seattle, WA. March
Gian Berto Vanni, Exhibition catalog, Galleria Schneider, Rome, Italy
Vice, Le mostre d’arte: espongono Virduzzo e Vanni, Paese Sera, Rome, Italy. May 31

1964
Andre Bay, Le Figaro Litteraire, Paris, France, December

1965
Fortunato Bellonzi, Giovani Pittori Romani di Oggi - Junge Maler von Heute aus Rom, Exhibition catalog, Italian Cultural Institute, Koln, Germany
Dino Buzzati, III Premio Cinisello Balsamo. Mostra Nazionale di Pittura Contemporanea e del Bianco e Nero, Exhibition catalog, Milan, Italy. November

1965
Corrado Cagli, Exhibition catalog, Galleria 88, Rome, Italy. April
Cronache d’Arte, Rome. May
18 Artists from Italy, Exhibition catalog, The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC (Cat.)
Seligman Gallery, Seattle, WA (Cat.)
27 Artists from Italy, Exhibition catalog, Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC; Ackland Art Center, Chapel Hill, NC; Gibbes Art Gallery, Charleston, SC

1966
Francine Feders, A Selection from the Artists of the Seligman Gallery, Seligman Gallery, Seattle, WA
Thirty Artists from Italy, The Renaissance Society, University of Chicago. Chicago, IL

1967
Tullio Vietri, Arte Contemporanea in Emilia e Romagna, Exhibition catalog, Museo Civico, Bologna, Italy. Jan

1968
Giorgio Di Genova, Vanni, Exhibition catalog, Galleria Rizzoli, Rome and Milan, Italy
Arturo Bovi, Vanni, Il Messagero, Rome, Italy. April 7
Lorenza Trucchi, Vanni alla Rizzoli, Il Momento Sera, Rome, Italy. April 13
Giorgio De Marchis, Gian Berto Vanni, L’Espresso, Rome, Italy. April 21
Dino Buzzati, Gian Berto Vanni, Il Corriere della Sera, Milan, Italy. May 1
Franco Passoni, L’Avanti, Milan, Italy. April 25
Questi i quadri del mese, L’Europeo, Rizzoli, Milan, Italy. May 2

1973
Gian Berto Vanni, Exhibition catalog, Galleria Schneider, Rome, Italy

1977
Carmine Benincasa, Gian Berto Vanni. Opere dal 1950 al 1977, Exhibition catalog, Galleria Nuovo Carpine, Rome, Italy. May
Gualtiero Da Vià, Gian Berto Vanni alla Galleria Il Nuovo Carpine, L’Osservatore Romano, Rome, Italy. June 22

1979
Gian Berto Vanni, Peintures: Vanni - Sculptures: Cantin, Exhibition catalog, Centre Culturel Français, Rome, Italy

1981
G.S., L’Arredamento come ritratto d’autore, Fine Arts, Edizione Marip, Bergamo, Italy. May

1982
Jerry Talner, A work (six Year’s worth) of Art, New York Post, New York. February 20
John Lewis, Do Drop In, Daily News, New York. February 21

1983
Boris Biancheri, Italian Ambassador to Japan, Vanni, Exhibition catalog, Gendai Hanga Center, Tokyo, Japan
Gendai Hanga Center Edition, #91, 92, 93, 96, 97, 100, Tokyo, Japan

1984
C. B. Firestein, Art Speak, New York. February 16

1986
Peter Meyer, Interview of Gian Berto Vanni, Swedish Public Radio, Stockholm, Sweden

1988
E. Bingo Wyer, New York Magazine, New York. January 25

1989
Gian Berto Vanni, Quadri d’America, Turin, Italy
Agnese De Donato, Il Messagero, Rome, Italy. March 25
P. Zacchia, Regione Oggi, Rome, Italy. April
Luigi Lambertini, Ce la dà Vanni l’America, Il Giornale, Milan, Italy. April 2
Enzo Bilardello, Quadri d’America, Il Corriere della Sera, Milan, Italy. April 10
City-Luxembourg-Magazine, Luxembourg, December
Revue, Luxembourg, December
Rich Andry, Gian Berto Vanni, Galerie 88, Tageblatt, Luxembourg, December 6

1989
Joseph Paul Schneider, Forces telluriques et vibrations charnelles, Luxemburger Worth, Luxembourg, December 7

1990
Josée Borg, Interview de Gian Berto Vanni Radio Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Jan.12

1991
Giorgio Di Genova, Storia dell’Arte Italiana del ‘900 - Generazione Anni Venti, Edizioni Bora, Bologna, Italy

1992
Arthur Anderson, Art, Architecture and Animation – Computer-Generated Images, Exhibition catalog, York College, Jamaica, NY

1995
Loomis Irish, Computer Art, Interview on World Comm Series, Brooklyn College Department of Television and Radio, WNYC Channel 31, New York, NY. September 28
Robert Rindler, Painting Faculty, Exhibition catalog, Houghton Gallery, The Cooper Union School of Art, New York, NY
Gian Berto Vanni, At Cooper Union, Cooper Union School of Art, New York, NY

1998
Giannalberto Bendazzi, Pionieri – Il Gian Berto Vanni Ritrovato, Asifa Italia. February
Raffaello Siniscalco, Intervista a Gian Berto Vanni, RAI Corporation, New York. December
Carol Zepp, At Cooper Union, Cooper Union School of Art, New York, NY

1999
Giorgio Di Genova, Catalogo delle Collezioni Permanenti, Museo d’Arte delle Generazioni Italiane del ‘900, Pieve di Cento, Bologna, Italy

2000
Gian Berto Vanni, Fifty Years of Painting, New York, NY

2001
Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast, Contemporary Artists, St. James Press, Farmington Hills, Michigan

2002
Valentina Puccioni, Gian Berto Vanni - Itinerari Pittorici - Catalogue Raisonné – Catalogo Completo, Masters Thesis, Supervisor Prof. Enrico Crispolti, University of Siena, Siena, Italy

2003
Daphne Kalou and Maria Gheka, In Harmony with Nature, Inside Magazine, Athens, Greece
Franca Zoccoli, L’America e l’Arte Contemporanea, Terz’Occhio, Rome Italy

2004
Gian Berto Vanni, Travelling Notebook of an Abstract Painter, New York, NY

2005
Jennie Green, Portrait of an Artist, Untormented, NYC Plus, New York, NY. September

2006
Cynthia Maris Dantzic, 100 New York Painters, Schiffer Publishing, Atglen, PA

2009
Stephanie Buhmann, The Inner Life of Dreamscapes, The Villager, Volume 78, Number 40, New York, NY. March 11-17

2011
George Campbell Jr., President’s Gallery, Cooper Union School of Art, New York, NY
Gian Berto Vanni, The Threads of the Canvas, (Autobiography), New York, NY

2015
Valentina Puccioni, Abstractions: Landscapes, Arco Gallery, New York, NY
Valentina Puccioni, Abstractions: Miniatures, Arco Gallery, New York, NY
Valentina Puccioni, Abstractions: Figures & Myths, Arco Gallery, New York, NY

2021
Valentina Puccioni, Beyond the Surface, Exhibition catalog, Anderson Contemporary and Arco Gallery, New York, NY
Sveva Manfredi Zavaglia, Beyond the Surface by Gian Berto Vanni, Rome Central Mag, Rome, Italy

2023
5 Artists We’re Falling for This Autumn From the Artnet Gallery Network, Artnet News, New York, NY