Mario Prassino was a Greek painter, illustrator, stage designer, tapestry designer and writer born in Istanbul (Constantinople) on 30 July 1916, the son of Victorine and Lysandre Prassinos. In 1922, at age six, he moved to France with his parents, who were exiled there, and in 1949, he became a French citizen. His early memories of France were troubling because of the poverty he observed, especially in the suburbs of Paris. His sister Gisèle Prassinos (born 1920) became a surrealist writer, whose work like Prassinos' reflected disturbing childhood memories.

In 1932, he registered at the Sorbonne and briefly attended the studio of the French painter Clement Serveau. Through his father's literary interests he be...