Intaglios

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LASANSKY HAS FUNCTIONED in another role of significance—that of the teacher. In 1945 he was appointed Visiting Lecturer to create a Graphic Arts program at the State University of Iowa. He moved himself and his growing family to Iowa City. There he has remained, in the dual role of creating artist and teacher, having become a citizen of the U.S.A. in 1952.

He sees the Graphic Arts program as continuing the tradition of the Renaissance workshop. Certainly the same activities are carried on, revived and revitalized in the work of today with printmaking in its role as a major art as it was during the Renaissance.

The method of teaching is also that of the Renaissance. The students (or they can be called apprentices—for these people are proud to be known as craftsmen) work in a professional environment, in direct contact with the artist-teacher as he produces his own work. From the beginning they experience the demands of professional problems and they are exposed to the methods of a mature artist who functions, while teaching, as a creative person. The teacher is not merely a visitor who appears to criticize and then withdraws to guard the secrets of his own creativity in private.

There are, moreover, certain advantages in an art school in the midst of a great university that did not obtain during the 16th century and are still not to be found in the independent, isolated professional school. There is available to Lasansky's students the entire range of disciplines and resources of the other liberal arts. They learn and live in an atmosphere wherein the pursuit of other humanistic activities is as important as the pursuit of their own.

The philosophy of teaching at the State University of Iowa is avowedly that of the Renaissance rather than that of the Romantics. It is held that the critical and creative powers of the artist are mutually sustaining, not mortal enemies. Students are encouraged to pursue as many of the disciplines of the other liberal arts as they wish, as part of broad programs of individual reading and research. The resources of the entire university are put at their disposal, in the hope that they will acquire skills of craftsmanship and criticism, as well as the stimulation of subject matter introduced in other areas of study. Habits of thought and working, it is believed, will be transferred from the area in which they are learned to other spheres of activity.

The medium of intaglio is particularly suited to the attainment of these goals. Mastery here implies expression in terms of the restrictions and demands of a difficult craft. The self-discipline necessary for coherent results develops confidence in the student as a creative artist, and along with technical skill, the integrity and responsibility of the mature social being.

The teaching of art within the framework of the college and university has become a widespread and prevalent practice in the United States in the past quarter-century. There are dozens of such art departments throughout the country, and their number is increasing. In the fifteen years since he established the Graphic Arts program at the State University of Iowa, Lasansky's students have found their way into many such centers of study. Most of them function now as he does, in the role of teacher and creative artist.

The work of just such persons makes up more than half of this exhibition. Many of them have by now been working and teaching for as long as twelve years since their days of study with Lasansky, when the prints exhibited here were produced. During that time they have received honors and awards on their own, and their works are known as the products of mature artists in their own right. They have in common a seriousness of purpose, a sense of social responsibility as artists, and the discipline of fine craftsmen.

What we find so impressive about the work shown here is the fact that all of it was done during the period in which these persons were students. In every print there is unmistakable evidence of both technical ability and a maturity of expression not usually seen in student work.

To be sure, Lasansky's influence is there; a reflection of it is the large portion of work concerned with the human figure. But the range of subject matter is broad. There are, in great plenty, landscapes, cityscapes, animal subjects, and a fair number of abstractions, showing that students have been free to pursue their own proclivities. Within each category there is also great variety in the use of techniques and the expressive qualities inherent in these processes.

This variety indicates that Lasansky has not forced his students into his own patterns of feeling or working. On the contrary, he has encouraged them to use, explore, and express the findings of their own personal experience. Great tribute is deserved by the teacher who thus resists the temptations of the time-honored pedagogical easy way out, and refrains from teaching by example and exemplar.

Lasansky's teaching has home fruit. Of the 37 other printmakers whose works are shown here, 23 teach their craft professionally; 14 now hold permanent rank in art departments of liberal arts colleges and universities; 5 teach in independent art schools.

In his adopted environment, Lasansky has succeeded in two ways. He has been able to bring his art to full fruition, realizing his own potentials of technical skill and expression; and by his attitude toward his work, he exerts a strong influence upon the new generation of American printmakers on both continents.

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