Mario Prassinos Sold at Auction Prices

Painter, Draft draughtsman, Illustrator

Marios Prassinos was born in Constantinople in 1916. After the events of 1922 his family moved to Paris.

In 1932 he entered the Ecole des Langues Orientales where he studied painting under Clement Serveau and two years later enrols at the Faculte des Lettres in Paris. He was soon to be associated with the surrealists’ circles and the French intellectuals.

In 1938, he held his first solo exhibition at the Billiet-Pierre Vorms gallery with apparent surrealist influences. From 1948 to 1976 he regularly presented his work at the Galerie de France.

In 1949 Prassinos became a French citizen and two years later he settled in Provence where he painted the surrounding hills and nature. In the field of portraiture, his most important works, after 1962, are usually expressed with colour patches in a distorted abstract manner.

Prassinos cooperated with Gallimard editions and illustrated numerous books. He wrote essays on art and published the books 'Les Pretextats' in 1973 and ‘La Colline tatouee’ in 1983.

In 1961, he was awarded the title of the ‘Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres’, five years later the title of the ‘Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur’ and in 1981 the title of the 'Officier des Arts et des Lettres'.

His donation of 108 works to the French State in 1985 are housed at the museum of Saint Remy de Provence.

Prassinos exhibited extensively in Europe and the United States. His work can be seen in the collections of: The National Gallery, Greece, Municipality of Athens and in a large number of public and private collections in Greece and abroad.