LAPTEV Alexey Mikhailovich(1905-1965). Graphic artist and book illustrator, Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR. His work is represented in the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin, the State Russian Museum and other museums.
A.M. Laptev was born and lived in Moscow. Here is how he recalled his first artistic experiments:
« When did it start? Memory retains barely noticeable traces. Pieces of writing paper cut smaller by mom to save money. I draw horses, their live queue moves quickly. As if whole herds gallop before me. I like to draw. My mother taught me this. How old am I? Apparently three years. After the death of my father from Moscow, we moved to my father's homeland to his relatives in the village. I remember running out there on a lawn with a simple, but very fragrant grass, and an amazing picture appeared before my eyes. Having hooked the barn with ropes, the peasants pulled it, others put logs in front of it. It turned out rollers, on which the barn moved slowly. Their friendly efforts were united by the melody of the drawn-out choral song “Dubinushka”. These childhood memories from an early age carry images of sounds, colors, smells and shapes forever loved.
Mom dedicated herself to us. Home games for my older sister and younger brother have become the best pastime. And I was into drawing. One day, my mother bought the book “Russian Tales” by Afanasyev. This book has remained a source of indefatigable children's creativity in our family. My sister read aloud these wonderful works of the Russian people, and then we unrestrainedly drew illustrations for what we read. When now, many years later, I visit exhibitions of children's drawings, I involuntarily recall my early childhood and the too modest opportunities that my sister and I had. We drew only with graphite pencils on small, often lined sheets, or rather, scraps of paper. My mother could not buy paints and good drawing paper. But fabulous images lived with us. We sat up late by the light of a kerosene lamp with a green glass shade and series after series we drew illustrations for fairy tales.
Not only the world of fairy tales attracted my imagination. In the evenings, I endlessly drew what I saw during the day in the yard or in the summer in the countryside. We were subscribed to the magazine "Firefly". Everything seemed to be entertaining and interesting. But most of all I was attracted by illustrations, especially by Alexei Nikanorovich Komarov. His pen drawings were imbued with such a warm feeling of sympathy for various animals, humor and enthusiasm. It was a special pictorial world where the fairy-tale characters of animals and animals loved from early childhood acted and lived, laughed, jumped, ran, talked among themselves.
I started painting very early. The drawings of three years were already quite skillful. I drew from life, I remember when I was seven years old. Drawing by imagination (which included illustrations) and drawing from nature went side by side.
I was unspeakably happy when something worked out. I loved my drawings and played with them like toys. On my bed I laid out my works and looked at them for a long time. The Indians rode after someone in pursuit, the Cossacks with swords flew naked on horseback, shots rang out, experiences were accompanied by emotional exclamations - the game was on.
The drawings accumulated, they went to the archive to my mother (she carefully collected everything). It is curious that I almost never did redraws from pictures. It was somehow uninteresting to me. Apparently, I was very interested in the process of the birth of an image from nowhere. Mom could not always buy paints for us, due to eternal financial difficulties. Perhaps it was this circumstance that laid in me a very early habit of precisely drawing and love for the stroke, for the line. When a little later I did receive the paints, I did not even know what to do with them. It seems that a child from an early age should have both pencils and paints in his arsenal in order to harmoniously develop his desire to convey the visible and imaginary, as well as to the color of wildlife.
Now I ask myself the question: what motivated me and motivates children in general to draw non-stop and with such zeal? Apparently, the very process of translating one's ideas and observations on paper. Life was interested not only in something particularly catchy and memorable. One of the early drawings shows an old bucket thrown on the lawn. Seeing him, I sat down and drew with interest. Only now I understand what could have been the impetus for this. A bucket - the only object on a wide, flat meadow - emphasized the expanse of the lawn. Throughout my life, I have been constantly convinced that even the most nondescript object can be interesting to depict. In fact, without realizing it, I then chose the path for myself: to be able to draw everything».
Since 1925 A.M. Laptev worked as an illustrator in magazines, then in the field of book graphics, collaborated with various publishing houses in Moscow: GIZ, Detgiz, Goslitizdat, Young Guard, Soviet Graphics, Soviet Artist, Children's Literature, etc. Since 1956 of the year - artist of the magazine "Funny Pictures".
A.M. Laptev was one of the first to illustrate the poems of A.L. Barto ("About the War", 1930), and also came up with graphic images of the same Nosov Dunno and his friends who are known throughout the world.
He not only illustrated children's books, but also painted portraits, landscapes, still lifes, genre compositions, created autolithographs on the historical and revolutionary theme, composed poems for children, made toys from clay, wood and paper that continued the artistic tradition of folk art, worked in sculpture small forms. During the Great Patriotic War, Alexei Mikhailovich remained in Moscow and was a member of the graphic team of the Moscow Union of Artists, which published satirical lithographed posters "Windows of the Moscow Union of Artists" and propaganda leaflets. Collaborated in "Windows TASS" and the publishing house "Iskusstvo", worked on posters, postcards, leaflets and created a cycle of front-line drawings (1942-1943).
Also A.M. Laptev illustrated the works of Russian and Soviet classics: "Dead Souls" and "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" by N.V. Gogol, “Who should live well in Rus'” by N.A. Nekrasov, Virgin Soil Upturned by M.A. Sholokhov and others.
In the postwar years, Alexei Mikhailovich was one of the initiators of the movement for the preservation of ancient monuments, his sketches were published in the book “Monuments of Old Russian Architecture in the Drawings of A.M. Laptev. As an author and artist, Aleksey Mikhailovich created books for children: Gramophone, Funny Kids, Funny Pictures, How I Draw at the Zoo, Foot-Chickpeas, Funny Pictures, Forest Curiosities, "Kids", "One, two, three ...", etc., prepared tutorials "How to draw a horse" and "Pen drawing".
Works by A.M. Laptev exhibited at solo exhibitions in Moscow (1940, 1949). He took part in exhibitions of Soviet art in the cities of the USSR and abroad: in the USA, India, and European countries. In 1966, a memorial exhibition of works by A.M. Laptev.
The book “Alexey Mikhailovich Laptev” (the series “Masters of Soviet Art”; 1951) is dedicated to the artist’s creative path, and in 1972 his memoirs “On the Road ... Notes of an Artist” were published.
1905 (Moscow) - 1965 (Moscow)
Graphic artist, sculptor
He graduated from high school in Moscow. Studied in Moscow: at the school-studio of F. I. Rerberg (1923–1924); Testing and preparatory department of Vkhutemas (1924); Vkhutemas - Vkhutein (1924–1930), first at the textile faculty, then at the graphic faculty of D. A. Shcherbinovsky, P. I. Lvov (drawing) and N. N. Kupreyanov (lithography). In the 1920s, he was a member of the Vkhutemas volleyball team.
Lived in Moscow. Engaged in easel and book graphics. He perfectly mastered all the technical “arsenal” of drawing: he used pressed charcoal, sauce, sanguine, ink, watercolor, pastel, chalk and other materials.
From 1925 he worked as an illustrator in magazines; painted for Pioneer magazine (1927-1929). In 1929 he began working in the field of book graphics (The First Pasture by G. Zamchalov). In the 1930s and 60s, he collaborated in various publishing houses in Moscow: GIZ, Detgiz, Goslitizdat, Young Guard, Soviet Graph, Soviet Artist, Children's Literature, and others. Illustrated textbooks commissioned by Uchpedgiz.
One of the first illustrators of A. L. Barto (“About the War”, 1930) and N. N. Nosova (“The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends”, 1956; “Dunno in a Sunny City”, 1959). Designed books: “What is good and what is bad?” V. V. Mayakovsky (1930), “Fables” by I. A. Krylov (1944–1945), “Medvedko” by D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak (1951), “Dead Souls” (1953), “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka (1960) by N. V. Gogol, Lithuanian Folk Tales (1954), Giovannino and Pulcherosa by D. Pirelli (1958), Masha the Confused by L. F. Voronkova (1960) and others.
Wrote and illustrated books for children: Gramophone (1947), Funny Kids (1948, 1949), Funny Pictures (1948), How I Drawn at the Zoo (1950), Fu you, you! ”, “Funny Pictures” (both - 1958), “Forest Curiosities” (1959), “Kids” (1964), “One, Two, Three ...” (1966) and others. Since 1956 the artist of the magazine "Funny Pictures".
In 1948-1954 he created an extensive series of illustrations for the novel by M. A. Sholokhov "Virgin Soil Upturned", for which he undertook a trip to the Don (several editions, one of them: Sholokhov M. A. Collected Works. M .: Young Guard. 1956– 1960, vol. 6–7). At the end of his life, he worked on a series of illustrations for N. A. Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (not completed, published - 1971).
Performed portraits, landscapes, still lifes, genre compositions; created several autolithographs on the historical and revolutionary theme. In 1935, on the instructions of the organizing committee of the All-Union Exhibition "Industry of Socialism", he traveled to the Urals; the result was a series of drawings "Factories of Krasnouralsk" (1936). In 1937–1939 and 1940 he went on creative business trips to collective farm villages; created a series of drawings "Collective farms of Ukraine" and "Salsky steppes". In 1941 he was sent to the Caspian Sea, where he completed a series of sketches depicting fishing villages and steppe landscapes (“Caspian Suite”, “Near Astrakhan”).
During the Great Patriotic War, he remained in Moscow. Member of the graphic team of the Moscow Union of Artists, which published satirical lithographed posters "Windows of the Moscow Union of Artists", campaign leaflets. Collaborated in "Windows TASS" and the publishing house "Iskusstvo", worked on posters, postcards, leaflets. Traveled to the Kalinin and South-Western fronts; created a cycle of front-line drawings (1942-1943), for which in 1944 he was awarded a diploma of the 1st degree of the Committee for Arts under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.
In the post-war years, he was one of the initiators of the movement for the preservation of ancient monuments, paraded over the Rodina youth club, which helped in the protection of cultural monuments. He sketched monuments of ancient Russian architecture for the proposed exhibition “Masterpieces of Russian Architecture” (published in the album “Monuments of Old Russian Architecture in the Drawings of A. M. Laptev”, M., 1969).
He created cycles of drawings "Uglich", "Collective Farm Series" (1947), portraits of noble workers of factories in Moscow (1958), travels in Czechoslovakia (1958) and Italy (1956-1962).
He worked in small sculpture. He made wooden toys ("Foal", "Karand'Ash", both - 1948). In the early 1950s, he became interested in sculpture from the roots (Sancho Panza and the Donkey, Don Quixote).
Since 1926 - a participant in exhibitions (1st exhibition of the Association of Graphic Artists in Moscow). Member of the Union of Artists of the USSR. Exhibited at exhibitions: an exhibition-review of works by young artists (1936), works by Moscow artists (1939, 1942, 1947), drawing, illustration and poster (1940), painting, graphics, sculpture (1941), "The Red Army in the fight against German -fascist invaders” (1943), “The Heroic Defense of Moscow in 1941-1942” (1944), All-Union Art Exhibition (1946), “30 Years of the Soviet Armed Forces. 1918–1948” (1948), the 1st All-Union Exhibition of Graphics and Posters (1950), books and book graphics by Detgiz (1951), “N. V. Gogol in the Works of Soviet Artists” (1952) in Moscow; "Military prowess of the Russian people" in Sverdlovsk (1943) and others. Exhibitor of numerous traveling exhibitions of Soviet art in the Union republics and cities of the RSFSR. Participated in a number of foreign exhibitions: the international exhibition "The Art of the Book" in Paris and Lyon (1931-1932), "Modern Art of the USSR" in San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York (1933), "Soviet Graphics" in Bucharest, Helsinki , Prague, Budapest (1950), Soviet fine arts in Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay (1952), "Soviet and classical Russian art" in Berlin, Dresden, Halle, Budapest (1953-1954), XXVIII International Biennale in Venice (1956) . Held solo exhibitions in Moscow (1940, 1949).
Corresponding Member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR, Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR. The publication "Alexey Mikhailovich Laptev" (series "Masters of Soviet Art"; M., 1951) is dedicated to the artist's work. The author of the memoirs: "On the way ...: notes of the artist" (M., 1972).
A memorial exhibition of Laptev's works was organized in 1966 in Moscow.
Creativity is represented in many museum collections, including the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin, the State Russian Museum and others.
Alexei Mikhailovich Laptev is a graphic artist, book illustrator, poet. Corresponding member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR. Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR.
Lived in Moscow. He studied at the school-studio of F.I. Rerberg (1923) in Moscow, with P.I. Lvov and N.N. From 1925 he worked as an illustrator in a number of magazines. Collaborated with book publishers in Moscow. Author of textbooks for art universities. In 1944 he was awarded a diploma of the 1st degree by the Committee for Arts under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR for the series of drawings "Military Series" 1942-1943. Exhibition participant: incl. many republican, all-Union, foreign; personal: 1938, 1949 - Moscow. Member of the Union of Artists. Awarded with medals of the USSR. Author of illustrations for works of classical Russian and Soviet literature, including books for children. He worked in the field of easel graphics on modern and historical themes, as well as in small sculpture. He wrote poetry and published several children's books with his own illustrations. The last time one of the books of A. M. Laptev was republished in 2010.
It was to him that Dunno for the first time allowed himself to be drawn. And the portrait turned out to be so similar to the original that all subsequent “portrait painters” only repeated and played with the image created by A. M. Laptev.
The pen and watercolor drawings by A. M. Laptev not only adorned the first two parts of the Nosov trilogy, they, as Yury Olesha accurately noted in a review of The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends, emphasized “her lightness, her joyful, summer, we would say , field color. In the same review, the line from which we have just quoted, Yu. Olesha noted that the whole book resembles a round dance: "a whole round dance of adventures, jokes, inventions." This association arose in the reviewer, no doubt, thanks to the illustrations of A. M. Laptev. They are multi-figured and incredibly mobile. Images constantly “change places, configuration, crash into the text, cross it diagonally” (L. Kudryavtseva), not allowing our eyes to tear themselves away from the magnificent, bright, diverse round dance of funny and cute shorties. Alexei Mikhailovich's illustrations are “tender, lyrical, fragile… with touching warmth and at the same time captivating “seriousness”, realism” (A. Lavrov) in detail, step by step, draw the world of little men. And these creatures in Laptev, although they resemble children (they are childishly dressed, they have childish habits), “but not children, not a parody, not a caricature of a child, and not dolls, but fabulous little men” (L. Kudryavtseva).
The artist's works are in many regional museums, as well as in private collections in Russia and abroad.
N. Gogol. Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka
Laptev A. Funny kids. Rice. and text by A. Laptev. M. Soviet artist, 1949
Gogol N. Dead Souls
One two Three
A. Chekhov. stories
I. Krylov. fables
N. Nosov. Adventures of Dunno and his friends
Different books...
Fully
Alexey Mikhailovich Laptev- graphic artist, book illustrator, poet. Corresponding member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR. Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR. The artist was born in Moscow. At the age of three he was left without a father. And his mother devoted her whole life to children: Alyosha, his older sister Tanya and younger brother Kolya. They lived poorly. There were no funds for good paper and paint in the family, so they had to make do with graphite pencils and small notebook sheets. But my mother read books to children and played different games with them. And she taught the children to draw. Alyosha preferred to draw from imagination (for example, illustrations for fairy tales), from about the age of seven he began to draw from nature. But he was not interested in redrawing other people's pictures. Alexei's mother worked in a minor position at the Suvorin publishing house. As an exception, he was accepted free of charge to one of the best gymnasiums in the city - the Strakhov gymnasium. Studying was not easy for the boy. But his element was drawing lessons. To get someone's hint, Alex went to the artist A. E. Arkhipov. He did not like the way he draws. It's good that his mother persuaded him to go to Vasily Mikhailovich Vasnetsov. From him, he heard a completely different opinion: "I see in you a clear talent ...". While studying in high school, Alexey was simultaneously engaged in drawing and painting in the studio of Fyodor Ivanovich Rerberg. This allowed him to enter the textile faculty of VKHUTEMAS (Higher Art Workshops). And a year later he moved to the graphic faculty. Alexei Mikhailovich worked hard. At this time, he began to collaborate with magazines (for example, "Pioneer", in which readers were entertained with their adventures by the character created by Laptev - the pioneer Kuzka); various publishing houses; performed portraits, landscapes, still lifes; participated in exhibitions; traveled on business trips. When the Great Patriotic War began, he began working in the Moscow organization of the Union of Soviet Artists: he painted leaflets, posters, lithographs for TASS Windows. In 1942, as part of a creative team, he ended up on the Kalinin Front, and later visited the South-Western Front. For a cycle of front-line drawings in 1944, the artist was awarded a diploma of the 1st degree of the Committee for Arts. After the war, Alexei Mikhailovich acted as one of the initiators of the movement for the preservation of ancient monuments, worked on wooden toys, became interested in sculptures from roots, and worked on cycles of drawings. The cycle of drawings "Kolkhoz Series" (1947) was acquired by the Tretyakov Gallery and for a long time was in its permanent exhibition.
After this success, the artist was offered to illustrate Sholokhov's novel Virgin Soil Upturned. And then there were wonderful illustrations for Gogol's works "Dead Souls", "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", for Krylov's fables, for Pushkin's "The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish", a lot of pictures for the magazine "Funny Pictures", there were several children's books, in which the author acted as not only an artist, but also an author. There was a book "On the way ... Notes of an artist", tutorials on drawing "How to draw a horse", "Drawing with a pen"; ... and, of course, the image of Dunno. Everyone knows about the Dunno. All children, as well as adults, fell in love with this artist because he, together with the writer Nikolai Nosov, gave them Dunno. Alexey Laptev was the first to paint a portrait of this mischievous kid, which turned out to be very successful. A good choice of illustrators played a significant role in winning Dunno Love among young readers. The first two parts of the trilogy were illustrated by Alexei Laptev, the third part, after the death of A. Laptev, was illustrated by Heinrich Valk. Early editions of books for their time were decorated richly - they had dust jackets and colored inserts (subsequent editions were designed more modestly). The last work was illustrations for the poem by N. A. Nekrasov “Who should live well in Rus'”. One of the books by A. Laptev was republished in 2013. In 2015, the Eksmo Publishing House in the Retro Classic series presented the book The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends with illustrations by A. M. Laptev. The artist's works are in many regional museums, as well as private collections in Russia and abroad.
Gogol N. V. Evenings on a farm near Dikanka: Stories published by the beekeeper Rudy Pank/ N. V. Gogol; [art. A. Laptev; Intro. Art. and comment. I. Vinogradova; Rep. ed. A. N. Pecherskaya].- M.: Children's Literature, 2003.- 298, p.: ill., portrait- (School library)
Gogol N. V. Selected works: in 2 volumes./ N. V. Gogol.- M .: Fiction, B. g.- (Library of classics. Russian literature) T. 2. / [artist. Yu. Korovin, D. Dubinsky, A. Laptev].- 1978.- 475, p. l.: ill.: 180.00
Gogol N. V. Dead souls: text analysis: main content: works/[auto-stat. L. D. Strakhova]; [reg. I. G. Salnikova; on the region use ill. artistic A. M. Lapteva; artistic A. A. Agin; resp. ed. T. D. Dazhina].- 5th ed., Ster.-M.: Bustard, 2003.- 93, p. ill.- (School program: ser. main in 1997)
Krylov I. A. Fables: [for primary school age] / I. A. Krylov; artistic Alexey Laptev.-Moscow: Children's Literature, 2013.- 31, p.: ill., portrait- (Book by book)
: fairy tale novel / N. Nosov; [art. A. Laptev].- M.: Children's literature, 1989.- 157, p. : ill..-- (Library series)
Nosov N. N. Adventures of Dunno and his friends; Dunno in Sunny City/ N. N. Nosov; [art. A. Laptev].- M.: Onyx, 2000.- 494, p.- (Golden Library)
Nosov N. N. Adventures of Dunno and his friends: fairy tale / N. Nosov; rice. A. Lapteva.-Moscow: Eksmo, 2015, [vol. e. 2014].- 188, p.: tsv. ill.
Yasnov M.D. Good morning!: [poems: for adults to read to children] / M. D. Yasnov; ill. A. Laptev.- [Moscow: Speech, cop. 2012].- 16, p.: tsv. ill.
There was a text by Lyudmila Mikhailovna Nikolaenko.
A beetle rang in the grass,
And the grasshopper took the bow,
How much music around!
Tsili-Vili-Dili-Bom!
There were frogs
Along the edge
Let's go - let's go -
And great
Strawberry
Bush found.
good in the forest
Drink dew in the morning
tilt flower
And take a sip.
The breeze blew,
He shook a flower in the grass.
Rustle-heap ran -
And the hare scared.
Here they are eared
Shy, big-eyed.
These four ducks
They want to attack the beetle.
Beetle goes - horns forward,
Who will attack first?
Let fluff on me -
I'm already a cockerel.
And maybe it's not a snake
But the winner is me!
Helicopter above the jackdaw
And the jackdaw is waiting
What's in his open mouth
The mosquito will fall.
Sorochata because of the bump
They fought like boys;
But in a minute
The quarrel turned into a joke.
The fisherman sits
The fisherman is sad
He doesn't need cancer at all
He would like a fish for lunch,
And there are no fish.
Boletus fungus
We have an umbrella and a house.
I am a good jumper
I have two pairs of legs
I jump where I want
It's like I'm flying a bird.
This is horses
Vertically challenged.
And they're just called
Pony.
Fragrant linden honey.
And the bees climb into the mouth.
If you love honey, don't sob
Sting - will live!
We are gray goats
Our horns are growing.
We are two brothers
Not two enemies.
Ducklings share their lunch -
They don't have knives or forks.
Alexey Laptev "On the way" (1972)
Laptev Alexey Mikhailovich (1905, Moscow - 1965, Moscow) - graphic artist, sculptor.
Studied in Moscow: at the school-studio of F. I. Rerberg (1923–1924); Testing and preparatory department of Vkhutemas (1924); Vkhutemas - Vkhutein (1924–1930), first at the textile faculty, then at the graphic faculty of D. A. Shcherbinovsky, P. I. Lvov (drawing) and N. N. Kupreyanov (lithography). In the 1920s, he was a member of the Vkhutemas volleyball team.
Engaged in easel and book graphics. He perfectly mastered all the technical “arsenal” of drawing: he used pressed charcoal, sauce, sanguine, ink, watercolor, pastel, chalk and other materials.
From 1925 he worked as an illustrator in magazines; painted for Pioneer magazine (1927-1929). In 1929 he began working in the field of book graphics (The First Pasture by G. Zamchalov). In the 1930s and 60s, he collaborated in various publishing houses in Moscow: GIZ, Detgiz, Goslitizdat, Young Guard, Soviet Graph, Soviet Artist, Children's Literature, and others. Illustrated textbooks commissioned by Uchpedgiz.
One of the first illustrators of A. L. Barto (“About the War”, 1930) and N. N. Nosova (“The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends”, 1956; “Dunno in a Sunny City”, 1959). Designed books: “What is good and what is bad?” V. V. Mayakovsky (1930), “Fables” by I. A. Krylov (1944–1945), “Medvedko” by D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak (1951), “Dead Souls” (1953), “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka (1960) by N. V. Gogol, Lithuanian Folk Tales (1954), Giovannino and Pulcherosa by D. Pirelli (1958), Masha the Confused by L. F. Voronkova (1960) and others.
Wrote and illustrated books for children: Gramophone (1947), Funny Kids (1948, 1949), Funny Pictures (1948), How I Drawn at the Zoo (1950), Fu you, you! ”, “Funny Pictures” (both - 1958), “Forest Curiosities” (1959), “Kids” (1964), “One, Two, Three ...” (1966) and others. Since 1956 the artist of the magazine "Funny Pictures".
In 1948-1954 he created an extensive series of illustrations for the novel by M. A. Sholokhov "Virgin Soil Upturned", for which he undertook a trip to the Don (several editions, one of them: Sholokhov M. A. Collected Works. M .: Young Guard. 1956– 1960, vol. 6–7). At the end of his life, he worked on a series of illustrations for N. A. Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (not completed, published - 1971).
Performed portraits, landscapes, still lifes, genre compositions; created several autolithographs on the historical and revolutionary theme. In 1935, on the instructions of the organizing committee of the All-Union Exhibition "Industry of Socialism", he traveled to the Urals; the result was a series of drawings "Factories of Krasnouralsk" (1936). In 1937–1939 and 1940 he went on creative business trips to collective farm villages; created a series of drawings "Collective farms of Ukraine" and "Salsky steppes". In 1941 he was sent to the Caspian Sea, where he completed a series of sketches depicting fishing villages and steppe landscapes (“Caspian Suite”, “Near Astrakhan”).
During the Great Patriotic War, he remained in Moscow. Member of the graphic team of the Moscow Union of Artists, which published satirical lithographed posters "Windows of the Moscow Union of Artists", campaign leaflets. Collaborated in "Windows TASS" and the publishing house "Iskusstvo", worked on posters, postcards, leaflets. Traveled to the Kalinin and South-Western fronts; created a cycle of front-line drawings (1942-1943), for which in 1944 he was awarded a diploma of the 1st degree of the Committee for Arts under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.
In the post-war years, he was one of the initiators of the movement for the preservation of ancient monuments, paraded over the Rodina youth club, which helped in the protection of cultural monuments. He sketched monuments of ancient Russian architecture for the proposed exhibition “Masterpieces of Russian Architecture” (published in the album “Monuments of Old Russian Architecture in the Drawings of A. M. Laptev”, M., 1969).
He created cycles of drawings "Uglich", "Collective Farm Series" (1947), portraits of noble workers of factories in Moscow (1958), travels in Czechoslovakia (1958) and Italy (1956-1962).
He worked in small sculpture. He made wooden toys ("Foal", "Karand'Ash", both - 1948). In the early 1950s, he became interested in sculpture from the roots (Sancho Panza and the Donkey, Don Quixote).
Since 1926 - a participant in exhibitions (1st exhibition of the Association of Graphic Artists in Moscow). Member of the Union of Artists of the USSR. Exhibited at exhibitions: an exhibition-review of works by young artists (1936), works by Moscow artists (1939, 1942, 1947), drawing, illustration and poster (1940), painting, graphics, sculpture (1941), "The Red Army in the fight against German -fascist invaders” (1943), “The Heroic Defense of Moscow in 1941-1942” (1944), All-Union Art Exhibition (1946), “30 Years of the Soviet Armed Forces. 1918–1948” (1948), the 1st All-Union Exhibition of Graphics and Posters (1950), books and book graphics by Detgiz (1951), “N. V. Gogol in the Works of Soviet Artists” (1952) in Moscow; "Military prowess of the Russian people" in Sverdlovsk (1943) and others. Exhibitor of numerous traveling exhibitions of Soviet art in the Union republics and cities of the RSFSR. Participated in a number of foreign exhibitions: the international exhibition "The Art of the Book" in Paris and Lyon (1931-1932), "Modern Art of the USSR" in San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York (1933), "Soviet Graphics" in Bucharest, Helsinki , Prague, Budapest (1950), Soviet fine arts in Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay (1952), "Soviet and classical Russian art" in Berlin, Dresden, Halle, Budapest (1953-1954), XXVIII International Biennale in Venice (1956) . Held solo exhibitions in Moscow (1940, 1949).
Corresponding Member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR, Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR. The publication "Alexey Mikhailovich Laptev" (series "Masters of Soviet Art"; M., 1951) is dedicated to the artist's work. The author of the memoirs: "On the way ...: notes of the artist" (M., 1972).
A memorial exhibition of Laptev's works was organized in 1966 in Moscow.
Creativity is represented in many museum collections, including the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin, the State Russian Museum and others.
Yasnov M. D. "Good morning!" ,
In the book "One-two-three ..." was.
