Klavia Ivanovna Antipina

Antipina K.I. - a renowned domestic ethnographer, specialist in the ethnography of the Kyrgyz people.

An indefatigable and selfless worker in science, she dedicated over 60 years of her life to the noble and challenging task of researching the traditional material culture, applied arts, and folk creativity of the Kyrgyz people.

Klavdiya Ivanovna Antipina was born on May 5, 1904, in the village of Turki, Balashov District, Saratov Province, and went through a significant labor path, starting from a proofreader in a printing house to a prominent scholar. From 1924 to 1927, she worked at the First Model Printing House in Moscow, and in 1927, she entered the Biological Department of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow State University, specializing in "Racial Anthropology." She graduated in 1931. As Klavdiya Ivanovna herself writes in her autobiography, she studied anthropology under Professor Bunak, ethnography under Professor Kuftin, and archaeology under Professor Zhukov at Moscow State University.

From 1931 to 1937, K.I. Antipina worked as an assistant editor at the Party Publishing House of the Central Committee of the VKP(b) in Moscow.

In 1931, she got married - this event had a decisive impact on her future fate.

In 1936, her husband, then a student at the Moscow Institute of Civil Engineering, was repressed (later she would learn that he was executed in 1938), and K.I. Antipina, along with her young son, was exiled to Frunze in 1937.

By the will of fate, in 1937 she found herself in Kyrgyzstan, where she connected her further life with the study of the history and culture of the Kyrgyz people, fell in love with this nation, and continued to work and serve it until the end of her days.

From 1937 to 1942, Klavdiya Ivanovna worked as a teacher at Evening Secondary School No. 1 in Frunze and simultaneously as a methodologist at the Republican Methodological Cabinet of the People's Commissariat for Education of the Kyrgyz SSR, and from 1943 to 1945, she became the director of this cabinet. In 1945-1946, she became the head of the educational department of the Institute for Advanced Teacher Training. In 1944, she was rehabilitated and could return to Russia, but she chose to stay in Frunze.

Klavdiya Ivanovna fell in love with Kyrgyzstan - this wonderful mountainous region, and became passionate about studying the traditional culture of the Kyrgyz people. She admired Kyrgyz craftswomen working with wool, felt, and other natural materials.

From 1946 to 1954, as a junior researcher at the Historical Museum of the Institute of Language and Literature of the Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences, Klavdiya Ivanovna combined her scientific work with teaching at the Kyrgyz Women's Pedagogical Institute in 1952-1953.

From 1955 until her well-deserved retirement, K.I. Antipina worked as a senior researcher in the archaeology and ethnography sector of the Institute of History of the Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences.

Among her numerous works, solid monographic studies such as "Features of Material Culture and Applied Arts of the Southern Kyrgyz," "The Everyday Life of Collective Farmers in the Kyrgyz Villages of Darkhan and Chichkan" (co-authored), "Folk Art of the Kyrgyz," and others stand out. K.I. Antipina made a tremendous contribution to the development of ethnographic science in Kyrgyzstan. She developed entire directions in the study of the material culture and applied arts of the Kyrgyz people, and she was the first to create classifications of Kyrgyz settlements, dwellings, and clothing. In her works, she demonstrated the originality of Kyrgyz ornaments, embroidery, carpets, and shyrdaks, revealing the peculiarities of weaving and linking them to the ethnic history of the people.

Throughout her life, Klavdiya Ivanovna combined her scientific research activities with pedagogical work, participating in the training of young specialists for the republic. She also engaged in significant scientific organizational work, making considerable efforts to create the association of folk arts and crafts "Kiyal," exhibitions of the Kyrgyz Historical Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts of Kyrgyzstan. She was the most knowledgeable and respected consultant in these institutions, as well as at the "Kyrgyzfilm" studio. This is not surprising: with unwavering goodwill, Klavdiya Ivanovna generously shared her extensive knowledge with everyone who sought her advice.

K.I. Antipina traveled extensively throughout our region along its high mountain roads and paths, visiting the most remote ails and settlements, studying the unique culture of the people. She knew the customs and beliefs with centuries-old history, reflected in the peculiarities of traditional life, as well as any Kyrgyz.

Until her last days, K.I. Antipina did not cease her work. She prepared an atlas of Kyrgyz clothing and submitted it for production. Scholars from far abroad often visited her. On the day of Klavdiya Ivanovna's funeral, American scholar John A. Summer M.D. arrived, who studies the use of chiy in the everyday life of the Kyrgyz. This plant is used by the Kyrgyz and some other peoples of the world to make mats, yurt walls, and other items of traditional material culture. The colleague hoped to find Klavdiya Ivanovna in good health and brought her a large book as a gift, a significant part of which consists of the main work of K.I. Antipina translated into English - "Features of Material Culture and Applied Arts of the Southern Kyrgyz." In his comments, the American specialist speaks enthusiastically about this book.

The fruitful public activities of K.I. Antipina were highly appreciated by the state and government of the Kyrgyz Republic. She was awarded medals from the USSR, an Honorary Certificate from the Supreme Soviet of the Kyrgyz SSR. She was awarded the high title of "Honored Worker of Culture of the Kyrgyz SSR" and is one of the laureates of the State Prize of the Kyrgyz SSR, awarded for the creation of the encyclopedia of the republic.

After a prolonged illness, Klavdiya Ivanovna Antipina passed away on October 4, 1996, at the age of 93.

LIST OF MAIN WORKS

Section "Culture" // The Everyday Life of Collective Farmers in the Kyrgyz Villages of Darkhan and Chichkan. Moscow, 1958.
Eldik is an art // Ala-Too. No. 7. Frunze, 1958.
Kyrgyz Applied Art // Literary Kyrgyzstan. 1959. No. 4.
On the Material Culture of the Southern Kyrgyz // Proceedings of the Kyrgyz Archaeological and Ethnographic Expedition. Vol. 3. Frunze, 1959.
Features of Material Culture and Applied Arts of the Southern Kyrgyz. Frunze, 1962.
Material Culture and Applied Arts of the Kyrgyz People // History of Kyrgyzstan. Frunze, 1963.
Folk Traditions in Contemporary Material Culture and Applied Arts of Kyrgyzstan // VII International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnographic Sciences. Moscow, 1964.
Material Culture // History and Social Life of the Collective Farm named after K. Marx, Suzak District. Frunze, 1965.
Carpets // Proceedings of the Kyrgyz Archaeological and Ethnographic Expedition. Vol. 5. Moscow, 1968.
Pattern Weaving // Ibid.
Material Culture and Applied Arts // History of Kyrgyzstan. Frunze, 1968.
From the History of Wood Processing // Issues of the History of Natural Science and Technology in Kyrgyzstan. Frunze, 1969.
Pages of History // Kyrgyzstan. Moscow, 1970.
Folk Art. Frunze, 1970.