Product Description

Never before has a book of the costumes of the nomadic peoples of Central Asia been published in American or Western European literature. This lavishly illustrated volume features the work of eminent Russian anthropologist Claudia Antipina, who died in 1996 at the age of 92. Antipina was one of only a small number of Russian anthropologists who devoted their lives to research among the nomadic Kyrgyz, and she herself lived most of her life in Kyrgyzstan. The costumes and documentation in this volume represent a substantial body of research collected by Antipina during the years of her life in Kyrgyzstan, and have never before been published. The book is illustrated with the watercolor images by Temirbek Musakeev and the photographs of French/Argentinean photographer Rolando Paiva.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #510790 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-27
• Released on: 2007-03-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

About the Author
Claudia Antipina was an eminent Russian anthropologist who worked most of her life in Kyrgyzstan studying the nomadic Kyrgyz. Rolando Paiva, is a French/Argentinean painter and photographer. He is the author of several books, including L'Art Batak, Afgahn Embroideries, El Parana and Interieurs Exterieurs. Temirbek Musakeev is a Kyrgyz artist specializing in set design. His featured watercolors illustrate Claudia Antipina's scientific work and research.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful, Unusual, Fascinating
BEAUTIFUL, UNUSUAL, FASCINATING
The album is an unusual combination of photography and anthropology, art and erudition. Kyrgyzstan is one of those far away, fascinating, little known states in Central Asia. Before being incorporated into the Soviet Union it was nomadic nation, high in the mountains, maintaining for century its particular language, culture and art, which differs visibly from its neighbors'. "Kyrgyzstan", published beautifully by Skira, can be made use of as a college/university textbook, but also as part of the collection of artifacts from Central Asia.
What is most unusual are the photos of Kyrgyz people, taken by Rolando Paiva, the French-Argentinean painter and photographer, deceased in 2003 as he was finishing this album. (It was finally finished by his son Mateo). The photos are of ordinary people, in their everyday surrounding, and Paiva captured their pride, their beauty and the harmony with their surrounding, be it high mountains, be it the very specific Kyrgyz house decoration. The faces on these photos are even more beautiful than I have seen during my many travels to Kyrgyzstan. Paiva captured them as if there was never before in Kyrgyzstan communism, repression, hunger and humiliation. We see beautiful, wrinkled old women, the colorful silk they make, serious, non-smiling children and men in their felt hats. If you were ever in Kyrgyzstan - you are thrilled and want to show the book to your friends; those who have never been there - want to go there before this world disappears.

KYRGYZSTAN
The Kyrgyzstan book is a wonderful cultural insight into the various regions that make up The Kyrgyz Republic. In a rapidly changing nation, this book is very much a window in time and place. With a colour plate on the vast majority of pages, it beautifully illustrates the various styles of dress.

The backbone of the book is the lifelong research of anthropologist Klavdiya Antipina who died at the age of 92. Her decades of study, the detailed watercolours by Temirbek Musakeev and photographic portraiture of Rolando Paiva combine to make a captivating and accessable book that you want to pick up time and again.