A preeminent practitioner of socialist realism, Reshetnikov was recognized by the government for his work and was a member for three and a half decades of the Soviet Academy of Arts.
While still an art student, Reshetnikov's prowess in realist representation procured him a position as resident "artistic reporter" on two arctic expeditions in 1932–34: the first, with famous explorer Otto Schmidt on the Sibiryakov; the other, on the doomed Chelyuskin which sank in 1934.
He specialized in two types of paintings: depictions of Soviet leadership (his several drawings of Stalin were favored by the dictator) and of ordinary lives.
The most famous of his works depicting children is Arrived on vacation (Прибыл на каникулы) (1948), Low Marks Again (Опять двойка) (1952), Reexamination (Переэкзаменовка) (1954).
In 1963, he authored a book (Secrets of Abstractionism, Тайны абстракционизма), in which he expounded his negative views of "bourgeois" artistic movements.