"Brooks Falls, Harrisville"
Gregorio Prestopino
1974, oil on canvas, 50" x 54"

Gregorio Prestopino was born in New York City's Little Italy and attended the National Academy of Design, where he fell under the influence of the Ashcan painters, whose work led him directly to the study of urban life.

In 1934, Prestopino summered at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, N.H., and became its director in 1954 - a lifelong association that would profoundly influence his art. Prestopino's subjects vary widely, beginning with the citizens of Harlem and ending with imaginary creatures inhabiting the landscapes of New Hampshire.