Remembering Arthur L. Prensky, 94

Arthur L. Prensky, MD, professor emeritus of neurology, art collector, and a longtime supporter of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts and Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, died June 16. He was 94.

Prensky first began collecting prints under the guidance of Ronald Greenberg of The Greenberg Gallery and eventually built a collection of prints including well-known artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, and Keith Haring. With an interest in supporting WashU, where he served as the first Allen P. and Josephine B. Green Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics, Prensky and his late wife, Sheila Prensky, began donating pieces from their extensive collection to the Kemper Art Museum — then the Washington University Gallery of Art — in 1984. The Kemper Art Museum now holds in its collection more than 120 works donated by the Prenskys.

When Carmon Colangelo, the school’s Ralph J. Nagel Dean and an accomplished printmaker, first met Prensky in 2008, he learned that while he had a great appreciation for prints, Prensky actually knew little about the process of printmaking.

“Arthur loved prints, but he had never seen one made, so I invited him to come see one at Island Press. He was blown away to watch Tom Reed pull a print by Chris Duncan,” Colangelo shared.

Soon after that introduction, Prensky endowed a visiting artist residency at the Sam Fox School’s Island Press, a research-based printmaking workshop established in 1978. The residency supports students learning the art of printmaking along with visiting artists — not necessarily printmakers — advancing their creative practice through printmaking.

Through the Arthur and Sheila Prensky Visiting Artist Residency, the Sam Fox School now welcomes up to three artists to campus each year for a weeklong residency in Island Press. During the residency, visiting artists work with Master Printer Tom Reed and Director Lisa Bulawsky — assisted by undergraduate and graduate art students — on custom prints that push their creative practices to new levels of complexity and originality. The visiting artist also delivers a talk about their practice during the school’s Public Lecture Series. The Kemper Art Museum serves as the official archive for Island Press, holding at least one print from each project in its permanent collection.

“Arthur’s support truly sustained Island Press over the last two decades,” Bulawsky said. “His gift helped us bring in artists such as Meleko Mokgosi, Stephanie Syjuco, Dario Robleto, and more, and our students participated with them on really ambitious and unique print projects. Being able to disseminate this work at international art fairs and into the collections of major museums has advanced the field of printmaking and elevated the profile of Island Press.”

In addition to supporting Island Press, the Prenskys established The Arthur L. and Sheila Prensky Acquisition Fund for Modern and Contemporary Works of Art, which supports the purchase of artworks by the Kemper Art Museum that have been created in multiples. Recent acquisitions through this fund include prints by Nicole Eisenman, Analia Saban, and Chitra Ganesh.

“He was a great supporter for the school and the work that we do,” Colangelo said. “I feel lucky to have gotten to know him over the years. He will be missed.”

For more information about the Arthur and Sheila Prensky Visiting Artist Island Press Residency, visit islandpress.washu.edu. For more on Arthur Prensky’s contributions to the medical field, visit medicine.washu.edu.