Josef Presser - Personal Background Information

Josef Presser (1909-1967)

For more information please visit www.josefpresser.org

Born in Lublin, Russian Poland, Josef Presser came to Boston, MA at the age of 12 where he received a scholarship to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.  His teacher, Philip L. Hale, son of Everett Hale, was quoted “I have a genius in my class and I don’t know what to say to him.”  Four years of art school was followed by a four year sojourn traveling and studying in the great museums of France, Italy and Belgium.  Upon his return to America in 1931, he settled into his studio in Philadelphia, PA where his concern for the poor and socially deprived grew with the urgency of the Great Depression.  In 1940 Presser moved to a studio on 14th Street in the Union Square District, New York City.  In 1941 he married Agnes Hart and they acquired summer studios in Woodstock, NY, becoming members of the Maverick Artist Colony and the Woodstock Artists Association.  Josef Presser spent his last 3 years living and working in Paris.  In 1965 he became an Honorary member of Cercle Litte’raire et Artistique, Bruxelles, Belgium. 

Public Collections:

-Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
-Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
-Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze, Italy
-Louvre, Paris, France
-Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC
-National Museum of American Art, Washington DC
-Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
-Philadelphia Museum of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
-Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA
-Woodstock Artist Association Museum, Woodstock, NY
-Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, RI
-Museum of Art, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY