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. Lapin has several books on photography and the opening of his own school.
Childhood
In the last year of the war, one of the most famous Russian photographers, Lapin Alexander, was born. Moscow became his home, here he was destined to spend his whole life. The boy grew up without a father. In one communal room he lived with his mother and grandmother, in another - a family of seven workers. The head of the neighboring family was fond of hunting and fishing, but, besides this, he sometimes hung a window with a blanket and did some magic in complete darkness. This made a lasting impression on little Alexander and determined his entire biography.
In 1959, the exposition "The Human Family" was brought to Sokolniki. Almost 300 photographers from different countries presented their work. There were shots about joy and sadness, peace and war, all those events that fill the lives of people and from which, like in a kaleidoscope, a mosaic of life is made up. Fourteen-year-old Sasha Lapin was shocked by the exhibition. Photography came as close to man as no other art.
The boy grew painful, often skipped school. I preferred mathematics with physics to other subjects, and admission to the Physical-Technical Institute after graduation seemed a logical and deliberate step. However, Alexander Lapin did not finish it. In 1969, he burned bridges and took away documents to devote himself entirely to photography.
Carier start
Like many world-famous photographers, Alexander Lapin received no special education. In his autobiography, he mentioned such names as Yu. Smith, A. Cartier-Bresson, A. Curtes among his teachers. At the beginning of his career, the photographer collaborated with a variety of organizations: trade enterprises, factories, and even took pictures for one “Teacher’s House”. Lapin tried himself in different genres: landscape, still life, nudity. In the end, he began to take portraits of ordinary people on the streets of the city.
The photographer took part in group exhibitions in the famous basement on Malaya Gruzinskaya, 28. In 1985, his first solo exhibition was held here, and two years later his work first went abroad to the UK.
The heyday of creativity
This is not to say 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 be ordinary parasites. At the same time, they were seriously engaged in photography and painted on their photographs not the front side of the Soviet Union, but the ordinary life of ordinary people, which was often far from glossy. In 1986, upon arriving in Moscow, the Finnish delegation met these young photographers and dubbed the phenomenon “New Wave”. In 1988, their work will be featured in the book, “Persons with Others,” published in Helsinki.
Since 1985, Lapin begins to actively exhibit his work, and since 1979 he has been engaged in teaching. First, he teaches a photography course at the Correspondence University of Art, then leads a studio at the Moscow State University House of Culture. With great warmth, Alexander Lapin later recalled these two years. The photographer recalled that many of his students became people and later began working in major metropolitan publications, some of which gained great fame.
At the Moscow State University, they organized something like exhibitions. These were not full-fledged displays, since permissions to exhibitions had to be obtained from censors, and it was not easy to do this. Pictures were exposed only for one evening, the law did not prohibit this. Only two full-fledged exhibitions were able to arrange here Lapin with students.
With posters and invitations , the First Moscow Youth Exhibition was held. Then they tried to arrange an exhibition of Igor Mukhin. The photographer, who will later shoot Tsoi and Zemfira, performed a series of pictures of hippies and punks. Somehow, the censorship was passed, but the models captured in the photographs came to the hall and behaved in a manner appropriate to the subculture. 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 will again return to Moscow State University to teach the basics of design and photo composition at the Faculty of Journalism. In the meantime, in the late 80s, he had something to do: exhibitions, participation in the creation of art albums, reportage photography. In the 90s, he received recognition from the state. He was invited by an expert in photography to the Commission on State Prizes under the President. After 2000, the master publishes several books and opens the Lapin School.
Lapin's works
Lapin considered the only living and standing photograph a documentary. Even the plot of rare production shots was dictated by life itself. At the same time, the photo artist was able not only to maintain the vivacity and authenticity of the frame, but also to create a graphically integrated work with a verified composition. Lapin frames have strict, clear geometry, harmoniously arranged clear lines. The master created a preliminary sketch for all photographs, on which he marked out the plane of the picture and technical data. The most famous works of Lapin - “Boy”, “Yard”, “Kazan Station”, a series of “Kisses”.
Exhibitions
At the beginning of his career, Lapin exhibited his works at general exhibitions of young artists indoors at Malaya Gruzinskaya. The place was a cult among the Moscow avant-garde. The only drawback was only its small area. The first solo exhibition of the photographer was held here in 1985. The following year, he took his work to Germany, to the city of Ottersberg. At the turn of the 80s and 90s, Lapin took part in several group exhibitions in Czechoslovakia, the UK, Paris, Helsinki and the USA.
Retrospective exhibitions of the master were held immediately after his death. In 2013 and 2014, two large-scale events were organized. One took place in the FOTODOC exhibition hall, the other in the very center of Moscow, in the Manege.
Alexander Lapin: bibliography
Lapin turned out to be not only a talented photo artist, but also an excellent writer. His books on the art of photography have become bestsellers. The master shared in them his experience gained over many years of everyday hard work. The first "Plane and Space, or Life Squared" was released 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 heterogeneous elements.
The second work, "Photography as ..." was released in 2008. Again, the author touches on the process of perceiving the frame by the viewer and his connection with the composition of the photograph. By 2015, the book has withstood 6 reprints. Now Lapin’s works are considered to be classics of the theory of photography and are obligatory for acquaintance to everyone whose life is somehow connected with photo art.
Reflections on Photography
The photographer often repeated that the form in the photograph is no less important than the meaning. The rhythm and composition should complement the idea of the picture and exist inseparably from it. Lapin was a hard worker, and he attributed his success to obstinacy. He told his students that there is no magic key to photography and perfect shots. Everyone must forge it themselves through long exercises with the 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 a photographer needs is the ability to see a three-dimensional composition on a plane. After all, often what seems like the perfect composition in nature crumbles and disintegrates when printed on paper. Visual thinking for a photographer is like a rumor for a pianist. If he is, then a sense will come out of the student.
School of Alexander Lapin
Alexander Lapin is a teacher who is spoken of from God. In total, he devoted 30 years of his life to teaching. For decades, a circle of like-minded people gathered in his apartment, discussing classical and new art, sharing finds. At these informal meetings, a generation of young photo artists grew up, whose school was lively communication with the legend of Soviet photography. In 2009, a retrospective exhibition was opened at the Winery, where, in addition to the master’s works, his students displayed their photos. Alexander Lapin was rightly proud of them and their work. And in 2010, the Lapin School officially opened the doors to the premises of Promgrafiki. Unfortunately, it did not last long.
Alexander Lapin quietly passed away in 2012. With his death, a whole page in the life of domestic photography was closed. Many works were distributed in private galleries and collections, while some are stored in state museums in Boston and Washington, as well as in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.