[1] He emigrated to the United States at the age of 12 and studied at the Boston School of the Museum of Fine Arts.

[2][3] During the 1930s, Presser painted murals as part of the Works Progress Administration program.

He settled in New York City where he worked as a painter and teacher.

He married fellow artist Agnes Hart (1912-1979) in 1941.

[5] Josef Presser 1909-1967, Raymond E. Tubbs, Frank Balters, Verlag Inter Art Gallerie Reich, Cologne, 1996