Aleksandrs Apsītis

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Alexander apsit

Aleksandrs Apsītis ( Alexander Petrowitsch Apsit , Russian Александр Петрович Апсит ; born March 25, 1880 in Riga , † September 19, 1943 in Ludwigslust ) was a Latvian artist.

Apsītis was born into a working class family from Rigans who moved to Saint Petersburg in 1894 . From 1898 to 1899 he attended the drawing school there and was a student in Lev Dmitriev-Kawkaski's studio.

From 1900 to 1910 Apsit was a member of the Moscow artist group "Sreda" (Wednesday). During this time he worked for various Petersburg magazines and designed war posters. After the October Revolution , Apsit was commissioned by the Soviet state publisher to design revolutionary posters because he had gained experience with political propaganda.

In the fall of 1919, when General Yudenich's troops had moved within 30 km of Petrograd, the poster "Protect Petrograd with your chest (at the risk of your own life)" was created.

The posters designed by Apsit were detailed, finely graded drawings with many figures, which were accompanied by explanatory texts. They were influenced by the Lubok , the Russian folk picture sheet . His poster "A Year of Proletarian Dictatorship" is considered a milestone in Soviet poster history. Designed for the first anniversary of the October Revolution, it shows the most important elements of the imagery of the revolutionary poster: in the foreground a farmer with a red flag and scythe and a blacksmith with a hammer who is crushing the emblems of fallen capitalism - both as guards in front of a field with simple flags carrying farm workers - in the background then an industrialized city and a rising sun. Alexander Apsit developed the hammer, sickle and red star, symbols of the Soviet communist era , on his posters . He is considered the founder of Soviet poster art.

In 1919, during General Denikin's advance , Apsit left Moscow. After the civil war he worked as a book illustrator in Latvia . He also designed advertising posters and greeting cards as well as the wrapping paper of chocolate and confectionery the company Vilhelms Kuze .

In 1939 Alexander Apsit moved to Germany, where he died in 1943.

Web links

Commons : Alexander Petrovich Apsit  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files