Mario Prassinos

Chevalier de Ordre national la Légion d'honneur, France, 1966 Mario Prassinos (30 July 1916 – 23 October 1985) was a French modernist painter, printmaker, illustrator, stage designer, and writer of Greek-Italian descent.

In 1922, at the age of six, he immigrated to France with his family, who had escaped the brutal persecution of Greeks and other ethnic minorities by the Ottoman government.

Through his father's literary interests Prassinos became acquainted with Surrealism, meeting Paul Eluard, André Breton, Salvador Dalí, Man Ray.

Prassinos volunteered for military service in 1940, was seriously wounded and later received the Croix de Guerre (Cross of War).

He also worked with the French Resistance during World War II, helping Allied soldiers escape Nazi-occupied France.