Robert Preusser was born in Houston Texas in 1919. He began art lessons with McNeill Davidson in 1930 at the age of eleven, and in his early teens he began exhibiting nationally and internationally. Preusser went on to study at two of the most prestigious and avant garde schools of the day, the first was, Moholy Nagy’s Institute of Design in Chicago in the early 1940’s.
From 1942 to 1945, Preusser served as a camouflage expert during the Second World War with the Army's 84th Engineer Camouflage Battalion in North Africa, France, Italy and Germany specializing in enemy aerial reconnaissance deception by replicating towns, bridges and other land marks geographically off course.
Preusser then studied at the Art Center School in Los Angeles in 1946 and returning to Houston in 1947, Preusser joined the faculty of the Museum of Fine Arts School of Art. And became a co-founder of the Contemporary Arts Association in Houston in 1948. He was founding co-director of the Contemporary Arts Association, forerunner of Houston Contemporary Arts Museum, from 1949 to 1951. In 1951, Preusser joined the Art Department of the University of Houston.
In 1950, Edith Halpert selected him as one of five promising young painters for the Newcomers Gallery in her New York Downtown Gallery. This selection led to feature stories on Preusser in major magazines of the day culminating with an expose of the group and Preusser in LIFE March 17, 1952.
In competitions, his work won major purchase prizes. The New York Times in 1953 described him as "by all odds the most interesting of any Houston painter--who's abstractions are distinguished by taut lines and color planes, transparent and of pleasing vitality."
When Preusser moved to Cambridge, MA in 1954 to teach at MIT, he had been art editor of the Texas Cancer Bulletin, stage set designer for Houston's Texas Stage, associate curator of education at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and art instructor at the University of Houston. He was invited to MIT by one of his former teachers, Gyorgy Kepes, now Institute Professor Emeritus. A one-year appointment led to tenure and a 31-year teaching career at the Institute.
In 1956, Art in America Review nominated Preusser as a "Promising New Talent in USA".
Professor Preusser developed the first studio course at MIT for non-artists, encouraging students to use their scientific and technological studies to create two- and three-dimensional visual forms. A team of his students created the first Fortune 500 magazine cover to employ computer-generated design. In 1969, he taught a similar studio course at the Institute for Educational Technology at the University of Surrey in Guildford, England.
Preusser also became a lecturer, and from 1974 until his retirement in 1985, Professor Preusser was Director of Education at MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies.
Preusser was the USA Co-editor of, LEONARDO (International Journal of the Contemporary Artist), Program Press Ltd., 1974 to 1989. He also served as U.S. participant in the UNESCO Conference in Paris, France in 1984.
Preusser's paintings were closely allied with his teaching philosophy of experimentation and innovation. His works are included in some 200 private and museum collections, as well as in the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.
The interviews Preusser gave the Smithsonian are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1959 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States.
Critics have said that Preusser's work shows the influence of European abstract artists Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky, and the American modernists, Arthur Dove and John Marin.
Art critic Elizabeth McBride, said that "in any one piece what is most noticeable is the process of internal transformation. There's a concrete quality to his abstractions and a spiritual quality to all his representation... Within this wonderland of experimentation, Preusser manages to remain true to an entirely personal world, for over the years his painting has maintained a serene stability."
From 1942 to 1945, Preusser served as a camouflage expert during the Second World War with the Army's 84th Engineer Camouflage Battalion in North Africa, France, Italy and Germany specializing in enemy aerial reconnaissance deception by replicating towns, bridges and other land marks geographically off course.
Preusser then studied at the Art Center School in Los Angeles in 1946 and returning to Houston in 1947, Preusser joined the faculty of the Museum of Fine Arts School of Art. And became a co-founder of the Contemporary Arts Association in Houston in 1948. He was founding co-director of the Contemporary Arts Association, forerunner of Houston Contemporary Arts Museum, from 1949 to 1951. In 1951, Preusser joined the Art Department of the University of Houston.
In 1950, Edith Halpert selected him as one of five promising young painters for the Newcomers Gallery in her New York Downtown Gallery. This selection led to feature stories on Preusser in major magazines of the day culminating with an expose of the group and Preusser in LIFE March 17, 1952.
In competitions, his work won major purchase prizes. The New York Times in 1953 described him as "by all odds the most interesting of any Houston painter--who's abstractions are distinguished by taut lines and color planes, transparent and of pleasing vitality."
When Preusser moved to Cambridge, MA in 1954 to teach at MIT, he had been art editor of the Texas Cancer Bulletin, stage set designer for Houston's Texas Stage, associate curator of education at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and art instructor at the University of Houston. He was invited to MIT by one of his former teachers, Gyorgy Kepes, now Institute Professor Emeritus. A one-year appointment led to tenure and a 31-year teaching career at the Institute.
In 1956, Art in America Review nominated Preusser as a "Promising New Talent in USA".
Professor Preusser developed the first studio course at MIT for non-artists, encouraging students to use their scientific and technological studies to create two- and three-dimensional visual forms. A team of his students created the first Fortune 500 magazine cover to employ computer-generated design. In 1969, he taught a similar studio course at the Institute for Educational Technology at the University of Surrey in Guildford, England.
Preusser also became a lecturer, and from 1974 until his retirement in 1985, Professor Preusser was Director of Education at MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies.
Preusser was the USA Co-editor of, LEONARDO (International Journal of the Contemporary Artist), Program Press Ltd., 1974 to 1989. He also served as U.S. participant in the UNESCO Conference in Paris, France in 1984.
Preusser's paintings were closely allied with his teaching philosophy of experimentation and innovation. His works are included in some 200 private and museum collections, as well as in the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.
The interviews Preusser gave the Smithsonian are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1959 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States.
Critics have said that Preusser's work shows the influence of European abstract artists Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky, and the American modernists, Arthur Dove and John Marin.
Art critic Elizabeth McBride, said that "in any one piece what is most noticeable is the process of internal transformation. There's a concrete quality to his abstractions and a spiritual quality to all his representation... Within this wonderland of experimentation, Preusser manages to remain true to an entirely personal world, for over the years his painting has maintained a serene stability."
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