Remembering Phillip Lasansky his decades of dedication to art in the corridor

Louis Phillip Lasansky loved art, though it was in a different way than the rest of his family.

Born in Iowa City on Dec. 10, 1954, Phillip passed away unexpectedly at the age of 65 last month, on Jan. 18. One of the six children of Emilia Lasansky and Mauricio Lieb Lasansky (renowned for the "Nazi Drawings" and his intaglio printmaking). Phillip was known across the Iowa art world for his constant involvement.

Phillip ran The Lasansky Corporation Gallery, which was largely dedicated to displaying the works of his father. He regularly allowed local students to tour and would speak on the history and work of his father and, occasionally, his younger brother artist Tomás Lasansky.

Though not involved in the creation of his own art, Phillip was prolific in his love of artists and art history, having spent decades volunteering at the Cedar Rapids Art Museum where he served on the board and in various committees.  

“He wanted us to do our best work, wanted us to succeed," said Sean Ulmer, the museum's executive director. "With his rich knowledge and history with the museum, he’s someone I knew that I could pick up the phone and call for any matter that I wanted his opinion on.”

Phillip was part of the committee that selected Ulmer as curator of the museum in 2005, as well as the committee that promoted him to executive director in 2014. Phillip was on the board for 29 years, 22 of which he served as secretary.

"I think of Phil every single day on a personal level," said Ulmer, who came to know Phillip in both personal and professional contexts over the years. "As a director, I have found myself saying multiple times, ‘What would Phil say?’ In a way he still counsels me."

Get the News Alerts newsletter in your inbox.

Get alerted to the latest stories to stay on top of the news.

Delivery: Varies

Your Email

Phillip's influence at the museum, according to Ulmer, was at once wide-ranging and subtle. The most obvious imprint Phillip left was perhaps the museum's Mauricio Lansky collection, a 239 piece collection of working prints he took part in procuring for the museum.

In Iowa City, Bill Nusser, owner of Hands Jewelers, is among those who knew him longest. The two met when Nusser, now 66, was 15 years old and both were attending the University of Iowa High School.

It wasn't until years later —  after Lasansky left the area to write legislation in D.C. and Nusser went to school in Ann Arbor — that both found their way back to Iowa City and truly started growing close. They became neighbors on Washington St. through their businesses, Nusser at Hands Jewelers and Phillip at The Lasansky Corporation Gallery.

By Nusser's estimate, they'd get together for lunch at least once a month over the past four decades. They'd talk about their clientele and lovingly knock the other down a peg if they started getting too full of themselves. The last time Nusser saw Phillip was the week before he died.

"Like always we talked about when we’re going to get together again, it was a busy year for him, his son [Diego] got married, so we weren’t seeing each other as much as we normally did," Nusser said. “He was so dedicated and devoted to his sons and his siblings and his parents; to find someone that loyal and devoted is highly unusual."

That dedication was evident in how he and his wife, Lori Lasansky, encouraged their children, Diego and Emiliano.

"When we would go on vacations as a family we would go to museums," said Diego. “When you grow up around so much of it and you see people who enjoy it — you see people who enjoy a career in the arts. It’s hard not to naturally develop those interests  yourself.”

While Diego ultimately followed after his grandfather and uncle in the creation of visual arts, Emiliano became fascinated with music. An art form Phillip also had a love for.

“He was a teenager in the 60s and was a huge Beatles fan," Emiliano said. "After the Beatles split up he kind of gave up on pop music and rock 'n roll and around that time, jazz fusion was sort of at its height."

That taste for jazz is something that Emiliano, now a New York-based musician, grew into. When he and Diego were kids, he recalled they asked their parents to get them video game consoles. Instead, they received musical instruments.

While Diego didn't take to his percussive selection quite as strongly, Emiliano still plays the bass. He still remembers a jazz concert Phillip took him to in 2007 at the Hancher.

"Still to this day — I see great music multiple times a week living here in New York — that’s still one of the best," said Emiliano. "It made such an impact.”

But, as both sons pointed out, even with the art scenes elsewhere, their parents have remained involved in Iowa City art for decades.

“He was always really proud of the Iowa City community and the eastern Iowa art community in general," said Emiliano. "He knew it wasn’t necessarily the New York art scene or the European art scene, but he always tried to keep it moving forward."

Isaac Hamlet covers arts, entertainment and culture at the Press-Citizen. Reach him at ihamlet@press-citizen.com or (319)-688-4247, follow him on Twitter @IsaacHamlet