Lasser sounds like a very jewy surname.

"When the Committee for the Preservation of the White House met on Sept. 6, they had lots to discuss: identifying art collection policies to change, textiles to replace and rooms to refurbish, plus any necessary updates to continue modernizing a 19th-century house for 21st-century living.

But the wider arts community had their eyes on another potential task of the committee: tackling the glaring lack of diversity among the artists represented in the presidential mansion. Of the 512 fine artworks in the White House collection, only 32 are by women, and 12 by artists of color, according to numbers derived from the book Art in the White House from the White House Historical Association. (The White House says those numbers don’t reflect prints and other items also considered part of the collection, but could not offer specifics on the numbers or the demographics for those artworks.)

In April, the committee had its first meeting after President Biden named 13 appointees. While no formal decisions were made regarding the art collection, at least one of the newcomers to the committee believes the artists represented in the White House’s art collection should be more diverse.

That appointee is Ethan Lasser, the chair of Art of the Americas at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He says he’s not surprised by the collection’s lack of diversity: many museums, including his own, are beginning to address similar issues in their portfolios."

https://dcist.com/story/23/09/27/white-house-art-collection-diversity-issue-artists-modern-contemporary-art/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=engagingnetworks&utm_campaign=DCIST_DAILY_09_27_23&utm_content=DCist+Dail+9/27+A