Alexander Lapin: biography and photos

Lapin Alexander Iosifovich - a man who made a huge contribution to the development of the Moscow School of Photography. His exhibitions were held not only at home, but also in Paris, Oxford, Washington. In love with art, he did his best to popularize it. On account of Lapin, several books about photography and the opening of his own school.

Childhood

In the last year of the war, one of the most famous Russian photo artists Lapin Alexander was born. Moscow became his home, here he was destined to spend his entire life. The boy grew up without a father. In one room he lived with his mother and grandmother, in the other - a family of seven workers. The head of the neighbor's family was fond of hunting and fishing, but besides that, he sometimes covered a window with a blanket and in some complete darkness created some magic. On small Alexander it made an indelible impression and determined his whole biography.

In 1959 an exhibition "The Human Family" was brought to Sokolniki. Nearly 300 photographers from different countries presented their works. There were shots of joy and sadness, peace and war, all those events that fill people's lives and from which, as in a kaleidoscope, a mosaic of life develops. Fourteen-year-old Sasha Lapin was shocked by the exhibition. The photo came so close to a person as no other art.

The boy grew morbid, often missed school. Mathematics with physics preferred other subjects, and the entrance to the Physico-Technical Institute after leaving school looked quite logical and deliberate. However, Alexander Lapin did not finish it. In 1969, he burned bridges and took documents to fully devote himself to photography.

Carier start

Like many photographers with world fame, Alexander Lapin did not receive a special education. In his autobiography among his teachers, he named such names as J. Smith, A. Cartier-Bresson, A. Kertes. At the beginning of the creative path, the photographer collaborated with a variety of organizations: trading enterprises, factories, even taking pictures for one "Teacher's House". Lapin tried himself in different genres: landscape, still life, nude nature. In the end, he began to shoot portraits of ordinary people on the streets of the city.

The photographer took part in group exhibitions in the famous cellar in Malaya Gruzinskaya, 28. In 1985, his first solo exhibition was held here, and two years later his work was first sent abroad to the UK.

The flowering of creativity

It can not be said that in the Soviet Union the art of genre photography enjoyed universal recognition and love. Many photographers for power were semi-marginal elements. And they did not call them photographers, because these people could work as watchmen, on duty in the boiler room or as ordinary parasites. At the same time, they seriously engaged in photography and drew in their pictures not the front side of the Soviet Union, but the ordinary life of ordinary people, which was often far from glossy. In 1986, after arriving in Moscow, the Finnish delegation met these young photographers and christened the phenomenon "New Wave". In 1988, their work will be included in the book "The Other-People Spectators", published in Helsinki.

Since 1985, Lapin began to actively exhibit his work, and since 1979, engaged in teaching activities. First he reads a photography course at the Correspondence University of Art, then leads a studio at the House of Culture of Moscow State University. With great warmth, Alexander Lapin later recalled these two years. The photographer recalled that many of his students had gone out into people and later started working in major metropolitan publications, some of them became more famous.

In the Palace of Culture of Moscow State University they arranged something like exhibitions. It was not a full-fledged exposition, since it was necessary to get permission for the exhibition from the censors, and it was not easy to do it. Pictures were exhibited only for one evening, this law did not prohibit. Only two full-fledged exhibitions managed to arrange here Lapin and his students.

The First Moscow Youth Exhibition was held with posters and invitation cards . Then they tried to arrange an exhibition of Igor Mukhin. The photographer, who later will shoot Tsoi and Zemfira, performed a series of pictures of hippies and punks. Censorship somehow managed to get through, but the models captured in the photographs came into the hall and behaved appropriately in the subculture way. The leadership of the House of Culture did not tolerate this. The exhibition was closed, and the organizer was asked to vacate the post.

Later, Alexander Lapin again returned to Moscow State University to teach the basics of design and photocomposition at the Faculty of Journalism. In the meantime, in the late 80's, he had something to do: exhibitions, participation in the creation of art albums, reportage photography. In the 90 years he was recognized by the state. He was invited as an expert in photo art to the Commission on State Prizes under the President. After 2000, the master publishes several books and opens the Lapin School.

Lapin's works

The only living and worthwhile photograph Lapin considered documentary. Even the plot of rare production personnel was dictated by life itself. At the same time, the photographer succeeded not only in preserving the liveliness and reliability of the frame, but also in creating a graphically complete work with a verified composition. Lapin's frames have a strict, well-defined geometry, harmoniously arranged with clear lines. To all the photographs, the master created a preliminary sketch, on which he marked the plane of the image and the technical data. The most famous works of Lapin are "Boy", "Yard", "Kazan Station", a series of "Kisses".

Exhibitions

At the beginning of the creative path, Lapin exhibited his works at the general exhibitions of young artists in a room in Malaya Gruzinskaya. The place was a cult place among the Moscow avant-garde. The only drawback was only his small square. The first personal exhibition of the photographer was held here in 1985. The following year, he drove his work to Germany, to Ottersberg. At the turn of the 80's and 90's, Lapin took part in several group exhibitions in Czechoslovakia, the United Kingdom, Paris, Helsinki and the USA.

Retrospective exhibitions of the master were held and immediately after his death. In 2013 and 2014, two large-scale events were organized. One took place in the exhibition hall FOTODOC, the other - in the heart of Moscow, in the Manege.

Alexander Lapin: Bibliography

Lapin was not only a talented photo artist, but also an excellent writer. His books on the art of photography have become bestsellers. Master shared in them his experience, accumulated over many years of hard work every day. The first "Plane and space, or Life by a square" was published in 2005. Here the author talked about the psychology of visual perception of a planar image. The book describes the structure of photography and the process of creating a harmonious composition of dissimilar elements.

The second work "Photography as ..." was published in 2008. The author again touches upon the process of perception of the frame by the viewer and his connection with the composition of the photograph. By 2015, the book survived six reissues. Now the works of Lapin are considered classics of the theory of photography and are obligatory for acquaintance to everyone whose life is somehow connected with photography.

Reflections on photography

The photographer often repeated that the form in photography is no less important than the meaning. Rhythm and composition should complement the design of the picture and exist inseparably from it. Lapin was a hard worker, and he attributed his success to stubbornness. To his students, he said that there is no magic key to photography and perfect shots. Everyone must forge it himself through long exercises with a camera. The photographer's talent consists, first of all, in the ability to see, which is formed not spontaneously, but under the influence of the cultural experience of the beholder.

The second skill necessary for a photographer is the ability to see a three-dimensional composition on a plane. After all, often what seems to be an ideal composition in nature, splits and disintegrates, being printed on paper. Visual thinking for the photographer, as a rumor for a pianist. If he is, then the student will come out of the way.

Alexander Lapin's School

Alexander Lapin is a teacher who is spoken about from God. In total, he dedicated 30 years of teaching to his life. For decades, a circle of like-minded people gathered in his apartment, they discussed classical and new art, shared findings. At these informal meetings a generation of young photo artists grew up, whose school was a lively dialogue with the legend of Soviet photography. In 2009, the "Winzavod" opened a retrospective exhibition, where, in addition to the work of the master, his pupils exhibited their photos. Alexander Lapin was rightfully proud of them and their work. And in 2010 the Lapin School officially opened the doors in the premises of the "Promgraphics". Unfortunately, it did not last long.

Alexander Lapin quietly passed away in 2012. With his death, a whole page in the life of the national photo-art closed. Many works went to private galleries and collections, while some are kept in the state museums of Boston and Washington, as well as in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow.