Apsit Alexandr Petrovich

Graphic artist, poster artist, book and magazine Illustrator. In 1898-1899, he attended the Studio of L. E. Dmitriev-Kavkazsky in St. Petersburg. Then he moved to Moscow, where he joined the creative Association "Wednesday". In 1902, he started working in book graphics. Illustrated magazines "Rodina", "Zvezda", "field", the satirical magazine "Zeitgeist" (1905-1907). The beginning of Apsita's active exhibition activity dates back to 1903. In 1904, he began to cooperate with the publishing houses of I. D. Sytin (focused on the production of inexpensive public books), A. F. Marx and A. D. Stupin. He illustrated works of classics of Russian literature: L. N. Tolstoy, M. Gorky, A. p. Chekhov, N. S. Leskov, etc., designed calendars, drew various advertising, labels and posters, including film posters in the modern style. Based on Apsit's drawings, the Association "A. I. Abrikosov's Sons" has released a series of Easter cards. The artist also executed greeting cards to order. In 1912, he participated in a large exhibition of Russian artists held in Moscow. Apsit became one of the founders of the Moscow society of artists (1913), which existed until the revolution of 1917. During the First world war, Apsit drew postcards on Patriotic themes, on subjects from Russian history, close in execution to the lubochnaya manner. After the revolution, in 1918, the artist as an experienced poster artist was invited to work in the publishing house VTSIK. Since that time, Apsit has been producing revolutionary posters (under the pseudonyms ASP, A-t, A. Petrov, Osinin, SKIF), in fact, becoming one of the founders and most prominent masters of this art form. In 1919, at the height of the Civil war, Apsit unexpectedly left Moscow. The place of his stay in the next two years is not established, but there is evidence that in 1921 he lived in Latvia, where he continued his work as an Illustrator and poster artist. He drew a lot for Riga magazines. In 1939, he left for Germany, where he died in 1944. No information has been preserved about the last years of Apsit's life and work.