1907 - 1984
Born and raised on the Lower East Side of New York City, Prestopino studied at the National Academy school, an experience of which he wrote in his autobiographical notes for the Academy: "My fortunate receipt of a scholarship to the NAD school, from the Boys Club, in 1923 opened up the world of art for me. My very happy and fruitful years at the school are the base for all I have done since then." He visited Europe in 1936 where he was impressed by the work of the Dutch Little Masters.
Prestopino's earliest works reveal a concern for the plight of the working class and his style continued to be marked by a Social Realism which dealt with life in Manhattan and an interest in impressionistically rendered landscapes. In the mid-1950s, his attention was particularly turned to the Harlem area of New York which he described in a number of oils and watercolors.
He won the Temple Gold Medal from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; two Pepsi-Cola competition prizes; two Altman Awards, in 1972 and 1984, from the National Academy; the Paton Prize in 1977, also from the Academy; a grant from the National Institute of Arts and Letter; and two awards from the American Watercolor Society. He taught at the Brooklyn Museum Art School during the 1940s, and the New School for Social Research, New York, during the 1950s; and was Painter in Residence at the American Academy in Rome in 1968-1969. He was a founding member of the Artists Union and was a director of the MacDowell Colony.
Prestopino's earliest works reveal a concern for the plight of the working class and his style continued to be marked by a Social Realism which dealt with life in Manhattan and an interest in impressionistically rendered landscapes. In the mid-1950s, his attention was particularly turned to the Harlem area of New York which he described in a number of oils and watercolors.
He won the Temple Gold Medal from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; two Pepsi-Cola competition prizes; two Altman Awards, in 1972 and 1984, from the National Academy; the Paton Prize in 1977, also from the Academy; a grant from the National Institute of Arts and Letter; and two awards from the American Watercolor Society. He taught at the Brooklyn Museum Art School during the 1940s, and the New School for Social Research, New York, during the 1950s; and was Painter in Residence at the American Academy in Rome in 1968-1969. He was a founding member of the Artists Union and was a director of the MacDowell Colony.
