Diego Lasansky | |
|---|---|
 Artist in his Iowa City studio | |
| Born | Diego Bolivar Lasansky December 6, 1994 |
| Education | B.F.A. Distinction and Honors, University of Iowa |
| Known for | Printmaking, drawing and painting |
| Spouse | Katharine Marshall Lasansky (m. 2019) |
Diego Lasansky (born December 6, 1994, Iowa City, Iowa [1] ) is an American artist whose focus is on printmaking, painting, and drawing. He lives in Iowa City, Iowa. [2]
Diego Lasansky is a painter and printmaker. [3] Prior to his formal college education, Diego Lasansky learned about artistic processes not only from his grandfather, Mauricio Lasansky, but also from his uncles, three of whom are professional artists, William, Leonardo, and Tomas Lasansky. Lasansky’s work is figurative, and, like his grandfather, tends to focus on subjects readily available to him—such as family members—and those of historical and personal significance. Early success came to Diego Lasansky in his series Portrait at Eighteen. This was a series of 50 intaglio self-portraits, [4] all of which were distinguishable from the others. [5] [6] In 2015 the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art published a monograph on Lasansky. [6]
One of his more recent portraits is of Martin Luther as Junker Jörg. This image of Martin Luther was created in the medium of intaglio printmaking and commemorates the 500th year anniversary of the Reformation. This portrait considers the figurative and formal elements of a portrait of Martin Luther prior to him assuming the identity or persona of Junker Jörg as he went into hiding:
I am delighted to have Mr. Diego Lasansky's Junker Jörg 1521 (2015) to add to our holdings. It recalls the central role of the Arts in sixteenth century Reformation. From Albrecht Durer's promotion of the Luther's reforming insight through the medium of woodcut prints to Luther's own writings of hymns to teach the people through music, the arts were a vehicle for the Reformation movement. Mr. Lasansky's work represents the continuing contribution of arts to the semper reformanda reality of the Church, even as his image of Luther in 1521 commemorates a central movement in Reformation.
In 2014, Lasansky began work on an intaglio print depicting Martin Luther as Junker Jörg. The print depicts Luther as Junker Jörg (translated to Knight George), the persona he adopted during his stay at Wartburg Castle, where he translated the New Testament from Greek into German. In 2016, Lasansky gifted 40 original intaglio prints of Martin Luther to Wartburg College in celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Each copy of Junker Jörg 1521 was created in Lasansky’s studio over a six-month period. The intaglio printmaking process involves etching and engraving on a flat piece of copper: [7]
I was honored by Diego’s gift, and I’m delighted to be in a position to share. Diego’s only request is that the receiving institutions find a home for this print in their permanent collection of art.
— Darrel D. Colson, Presiding of Wartburg College, Portrait of the Reformation, (Wartburg Magazine), November 22, 2016. [7]
The church, for centuries, was the main supporter of the arts. For me, the interest in drawing the pope or someone like Martin Luther is no different than me drawing Albert Einstein or a president, he said. They are significant figures in time who have more than just a religious meaning.
— Diego Lasansky, Artist, Portrait of the Reformation, (Wartburg Magazine), November 22, 2016. [7]
On January 18, 2020 Diego's father Luis Phillip Lasansky son of Mauricio Lasansky, passed away unexpectedly at the age of 65. Phillip was the director of the Lasansky Corporation for more than forty years. [8]
Ulmer, Sean M. Diego Lasansky: Paintings, Drawings, Prints. Iowa City, IA: Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, (December 5, 2015). ISBN 978-0-692-58865-9
The Wartburg is a castle originally built in the Middle Ages. It is situated on a precipice of 410 meters (1,350 ft) to the southwest of and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It was the home of St. Elisabeth of Hungary, the place where Martin Luther translated the New Testament of the Bible into German, the site of the Wartburg festival of 1817 and the supposed setting for the possibly legendary Sängerkrieg. It was an important inspiration for Ludwig II when he decided to build Neuschwanstein Castle.
Wartburg College is a private Lutheran liberal arts college in Waverly, Iowa. It also has faculty and a program in Denver, Colorado, called Wartburg West.
The American Lutheran Church (ALC) was a Christian Protestant denomination in the United States and Canada that existed from 1960 to 1987. Its headquarters were in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Upon its formation in 1960, The ALC designated Augsburg Publishing House, also located in Minneapolis, as the church publisher. The Lutheran Standard was the official magazine of The ALC.
Paul T. Granlund was an American sculptor. His creative career spanned more than 50 years and more than 650 different works. Most of his work is figurative and made from bronze. His patrons included colleges, hospitals, Lutheran churches, and other institutions.
George Wolfgang Forell was the Carver Distinguished Chair of Religion in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Iowa. He was a scholar, author, lecturer, and guest professor in the field of Christian ethics.
Inspector Georg Martin Grossman was a German-American Lutheran pastor, academic, missionary, and church leader who founded the Iowa Synod, Wartburg College, and Wartburg Theological Seminary.
Robert Kolb is professor emeritus of Systematic Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, and a world-renowned authority on Martin Luther and the history of the Reformation.
Robert David Preus was an American Lutheran pastor, professor, author, and seminary president.
Johann Michael Reu (November 16, 1869 – October 14, 1943) was a German - American Lutheran theologian, author and educator.
The Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States, commonly known as the Joint Synod of Ohio or the Ohio Synod, was a German-language Lutheran denomination whose congregations were originally located primarily in the U.S. state of Ohio, later expanding to most parts of the United States. The synod was formed on September 14, 1818, and adopted the name Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States by about 1850. It used that name or slight variants until it merged with the Iowa Synod and the Buffalo Synod in 1930 to form the first American Lutheran Church (ALC), 1930–1960.
Samuel Torvend is an American theologian.
Mauricio Leib Lasansky was an Argentine artist and educator known both for his advanced techniques in intaglio printmaking and for a series of 33 pencil drawings from the 1960s titled "The Nazi Drawings." Lasansky, who migrated to and became a citizen of the United States, established the school of printmaking at the University of Iowa, which offered the first Master of Fine Arts program in the field in the United States. Sotheby's identifies him as one of the fathers of modern printmaking.
The American Lutheran Church (ALC) was formed in 1930 from the merger of the three conservative Lutheran synods of German-American origin: The Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Iowa and Other States, established in 1854; the Lutheran Synod of Buffalo, established in 1845; and the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States, established in 1818 from the Ministerium of Pennsylvania. The headquarters of the ALC were in Columbus, Ohio, which had been the headquarters of the Joint Synod of Ohio, the largest of the three synods.
April Ulring Larson is an American retired Lutheran bishop. In 1992, she became the first woman to be elected to serve as a bishop by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
A Luther Monument is a monument dedicated to the reformer Martin Luther. The oldest one from 1821 is in Wittenberg. The largest one, the Luther Monument in Worms, was unveiled in 1868 as a composition of several statues, designed by Ernst Rietschel. Several monuments in the United States use a copy of Rietschel's main statue, including the Luther Monument in Washington, D.C., from 1884.
Byron Gordon McKeeby (1936-1984) was an American artist, educator and master printmaker known primarily for lithography. McKeeby's interest dovetailed with a burgeoning contemporary community in advancing lithography as an art form. He was active in all form of print exhibition. He built a full scope printmaking department of rank at the University of Tennessee that exists today.
Malcolm Haynie Myers was an American painter, printmaker and professor known primarily for his Intaglio-style engravings. His work is included in numerous museum collections.
John A. Knudsen was an American artist and educator known for his advanced techniques in intaglio printmaking and exploration of color through large oil paintings that focused primarily on Chicago cityscapes. He was one of the founding professors of Harper College and developed the Fine Arts Department curriculum and direction.