Irene Bianucci

Artist Details

• First Name Irene
• Maiden Name Bianucci
• Surname Bianucci
• Spouse’s Full Name Roy Robert Soravia, artist; married 1940
• Birth Date December 16, 1903
• Birth Place Lucca, Italy
• Death Date November 20, 1988
• Death Place Encinitas, California
• Ethnicity Italian
• Residence(s) 1903-1909: Lucca, Italy
  
  1915: to Farmer City, Illinois
  
  ?: to Clinton, Illinois; graduated Clinton High School 1922
  
  1922-1926:  Kewanee, Illinois
  
  1926-??: Chicago
  
  1930-?: New York
  
  1940 census: lodger at 685 N. Michigan, Chicago, Illinois??
  
  1949-?: Leucadia, California
• Studio Location(s) Dearborn St., Chicago, Illinois
• Categories Drawing, Gouache, Muralist, Watercolorist
• Training 1922-1926: Millikin University, Decatur, IL; student of George Raab
  1926-?: School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; student of George Oberteuffer, Boris Anisfeld, and John W. Norton
  
• Subject(s) of Art Array
• Exhibitions History 1924: Millikin University, Decatur, Illinois
  
  1929?, 1931: Decatur Art Institute, Decatur, Illinois
  
  1930: Union League Club, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1930-1933, 1936, 1939, 1940, 1941: Annual exhibition, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois;
  
  1930: La Pensierosa
  
  1934, 1935: Chicago Society of Artists, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1936: No-Jury Society of Artists, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1938: Federal Art Program Exhibition, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1934, 1935: Chicago Society of Artists, Women's Club Bureau, Mandel Brothers; Rain, pencil drawing
  
  May 1953: Mandel Brothers Art Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
  
  International Watercolor show, Chicago, Illinois
  
  Riverside Museum, New York
  
  San Diego Fine Arts Gallery, San Diego, Illinois
  
  Tower Town Galleries, Chicago, Illinois
• Collections Juvenile Court, Chicago, Illinois
  
  Mural Rural Scene -- Wakarusa Valley, US Post Office, Mt. Carroll, Illinois
  
  Martin A. Ryerson Elementary School, Chicago, Illinois
  
  Southern Illinois University
• Publications

  Becker, Heather. Art for the people: the rediscovery and preservation of progressive and WPA-era murals in the Chicago public schools, 1904-1943. Chronicle Books, 2002.

• Memberships Chicago Society of Artists
• Awards 1924: Minnie Bachman Mueller Prize, Millikin University, Decatur, Illinois for exceptional ability in execution of a mural, Music
  
  1926: two 1^st place prizes at Illinois State Fair:  a still life, a painting of animals
  
  1927: 3 1^st place prizes and 5 red ribbons for paintings
  
  1930: Art Prize, Union League Club, Chicago, Illinois for Little Russian Girl, oil
  
  1930: The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Scholarship to study in New York
  
  circa 1950: Honorable mention, San Diego Art Guild annual
• Other Occupation(s) WPA commissions: Clara Barton Elementary School and at the Martin A. Ryerson Elementary School (Discovery of America and Landing of Columbus, 1940)
  
  Designer/illustration, Container Corporation of America, Chicago, 1943-1946
• Biography Parents: Assunta Cataldi (1880-1969) and Amadeo Bianucci (1879-January 27, 1949). He owned the Clinton Ice Cream Company.
  
  Siblings: Henry Bianucci (1905-1981), George Harold Bianucci (1914-1965), Marianne Virginia Bianucci Gambrel (1918-2002), and Eugene Francis Bianucci (1920-1997).