20 x 15 inches, signed lower middle: Preusser; "Robert Ormerod Preusser (1919-1992) was an award winning pioneer of abstraction during a time when Texas art was dominated by regionalist syles. He began studying at age eleven in Houston wtih Ola McNeill Davidson (1930), and later with Laszlo Moholy-Magy at his progressive, 'New Bauhaus' Institute of Design in Chicago (1939-1942). After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II (1942-1945). Preusser returned to Houston in 1947 and remained there until 1954, when he accepted a teaching position at MIT. In Houston, he became a key figure in the burgeoning art community, teaching at the Museum School of MFAH (1947-1954), working as associate curator of education at the MFAH (1952-1954), serving as a founding member of the Contemporary Arts Association (1948; now the CAM) and later as co-director (1949-1951), and teaching at the University of Houston (1951-1954). After moving to Massachusetts, Preusser taught at MIT until his retirement in 1958. Although Preusser spent most of his life in Texas and Massachusetts, he was known throughout the nation; Edith Halpert identified him as one of ht efive young promising American painters for her Downtown Gallery in New York (1950)." - page 284, book: Midcentury Modern Art in Texas, by: Katie Robinson Edwards (c) 2014; UT Press