He studied under Hugh Breckenridge and John F. Carlson and exhibited at the Hoosier Salon, the North Shore Art Association, the Association of Chicago Painters and Sculptors, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
For 30 years, he had a studio at 5 E. Ontario Street in Chicago where he taught, lectured and gave demonstrations.
He held many other prizes and awards, and his works are in private collections in the U.S., France, Holland, Italy and Canada.
[1] Cilfone and his wife, Irene, went to Nashville, Indiana in the early winter of 1947,[2] and took up quarters in the studio formerly occupied by artist Will Vawter.
The Cilfones met with Curry Bohm, artist, at Gloucester, Massachusetts the last summer[clarification needed] and were invited to visit Brown County, Indiana.