Mario Prassinos was born in 1916 in Constaninople to a Greek-Italian family who had longed lived in Turkey before self-exiling themselves to France in 1922. He studies in Paris at the Lycee Condorcet, the Ecole des Langues Orientales and the Sorbonne.
1938: first solo exhibition at the Galerie Billiet-Vorms. 1940: returning from his army service as a volunteer, he moves away from surrealism and embarks on a period of representational art. 1942: embarks on a long career as illustrator with the Editions Gallimard. Mario Prassinos will never cease to wirte about painting, drawing, tapestry, photography… Writes Les Pretextats, Ed. Gallimard, 1973 and 1983; La Colline tatouee, Ed. Grasset. 1947: first stage designs for Jean Vilar and the 1st festival of Avignon. 1948: first exhibition at the Galerie de France, Paris, where he exhibits until 1976. 1951: buys a house in Provence; the first Alpilles drawings; the first tapestries. 1956: first tapestry exhibition at the Galerie la Demeure, where he exhibits until 1974. 1958: first journey to Greece; spends a few months on Spetses. 1961: he is made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. After 1962 he goes back to a project on portraits he had started in the 1940s, and then starts on the portraits of his family and the Pretextats series. 1966: he is made a Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur. After 1970 he creates clay sculptures, some of which are cast in bronze. Between 1970 and 1981 he paints the Turkish Landscapes. 1980: he is made an Officier des Arts et des Lettres. From 1980 to his death Mario Prassinos devotes himself to painting the Trees using oil on paper. In 1985 he donates to the French state a selection from his entire oeuvre comprising paintings, drawings, prints and tapestries. Mario Prassinos died on October 23, 1985.
Main solo exhibitions
1938 Paris, Galerie Billiet-Vorms
1944 Paris, Galerie de la Pleiade N.R.F.
1948 Paris, Galerie Billiet-Caputo
1950 USA, New York, Perspectives Gallery
1952 Belgium, Brussels, Galerie Apollo
1953 Paris, Galerie de France and then 1955, 1957, 1960, 1964, 1966, 1972, 1976
1956 Paris, Galerie la Demeure and then 1961, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1971, 1974
1958 Italy, Milan, Galleria Blu
1961 Norway, Oslo, Haaken Gallery Chateau Grimaldi, Antibes Museum
1962 Aix-en-Provence, Galerie Spinazzola
1963 Netherlands, Arnhem Gallery and Haarlem Museum Switzerland, La Chaux-de-Fonds Museum
1964 Switzerland, Zurich, Colette Ryter Gallery and then 1967, 1971, 1973
1965 Le Havre, New Museum of Fine Arts
1966 Athens, Merlin Gallery
1968 Marseilles, Cantini Museum
1970 USA, Chicago Arts Club
Arles, Reattu Museum
1971 Saint-Remy-de-Provence, Galerie Noella Gest
1972 Spain, Madrid, Ateneo
1973 Athens, Athens Art Gallery and then 1978
1974 Le Couvent Royal de Saint Maximin, Fondation Royaumont, Abbaye de Senanque Arles, Abbaye de Montmajour
1979 Athens, French Institute
1980 Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais
1983 Aix-en-Provence, Presence Contemporaine, retrospective
1984 Aubusson, Le Musee Departemental de la Tapisserie, retrospective Rhodes, French Institute, Grand Magister Palace Thessaloniki, Museum of Contemporary Art Athens, Medusa Art Gallery and then 2007
1986 Saint-Remy-de-Provence, inauguration of the donation of Mario Prassinos to the French State, and then annual exhibitions
1987 Cannes, OMAC, La Malmaison
1988 Belgium, Brussels, Musee des Beaux-Arts d’Ixelles, retrospective Angers, Musee Jean-Lurcat et de la tapisserie contemporaine
1989 Paris, Galerie Inard, Tapestry, retrospective
1991 Paris, Pavillon des Arts, retrospective
Athens, Titanium Gallery
1995 Paris, Galerie Thessa Herold and then 1997
1996 Aix-en-Provence, Espace 13
1998 Albi, Musee Toulouse-Lautrec
Issoudun, Musee de l’Hospice Saint-Roch, retrospective
1999 Arles, Musee Reattu, opening of permanent exhibition
2000 Paris, Galerie Etats d’Art and then 2005
2001 Andros, Kydonieos Foundation
2005 Marseilles, Galerie Andre Dimanche
2006 Paris, Galerie La Hune-Brenner
2009 Aubagne, Chapelle des penitents noirs
2011 Athens, Medusa Art Gallery
