Khudaibergen (Divanov), Views and people of Khiva, 1910-1924

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Summary

Title:

Khudaibergen Divanov, Views and people of Khiva

Dates:

1910-1924

Creators:

Divanov, Khudaibergen , 1879-1938

Abstract:

The collection comprises 18 salted paper photographs by pioneer Uzbek photographer and filmmaker, Khudaibergen Divanov. Fifteen of the images are photographs Divanov made prior to the fall of the Khanate of Khiva, and depict the city of Khiva, the capitol of the Khanate of Khiva in western Central Asia, and its inhabitants. The remaining three photographs were taken after the fall of the Khanate of Khiva in 1920.

Extent:

.05 Linear Feet (18 photographs in 1 box)

Language:

Collection material is in Russian , Uzbek .

Preferred citation:

Khudaibergen Divanov, Views and people of Khiva, 1910-1924, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2022.R.22.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2022r22

Background

Scope and content:

The collection comprises 18 photographs (direct contact salted paper prints) by Khudaibergen Divanov. Fifteen of the images are photographs Divanov made prior to the fall of the Khanate of Khiva, and depict the city of Khiva, the capitol of the Khanate of Khiva in western Central Asia, and its inhabitants. Views of Khiva include mosques and minarets, the fortress, and its city gates. Portraits of kurash or belt-wrestlers, a noble man with his hawks, and women spinning cotton threads are present in the collection as are depictions of popular entertainments such as aerial rope-walking and ram fighting. Other scenes show local crops and irrigation techniques. Commerce is represented by merchants transporting their wares by canals and a large gathering of bullock carts at a trade market. The remaining three photographs were taken after the fall of the Khanate of Khiva in 1920. One image depicts the First All-Khorezm Kurultai Assembly of People's Representatives held on 30 April 1920, which proclaimed the end of the Khivan Khanate and the formation of the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic (PSRK; Uzbek: Xorazm Xalq Sovet Respublikasi; Russian transliteration: Khorezmskaya Narodnaya Sovetskaya Respublika).

The photographs were formerly in an album owned by an unidentified Soviet officer who served in Turkestan in the 1920s. Annotations in Russian are present on the versos of 14 of the photographs. Captions in Uzbek are present on five of the photographs, written either in the negative or directly on the print. The titles of the individual photographs are from the translations of the Russian annotations included in the dealer's inventory. Their unusual Russian orthography, which hints at phonetic transcription based on Central Asian pronunciation, suggests that the annotations were added by Divanov himself. The Uzbek captions in the negatives were inscribed there by Divanov.

Arrangement

Arranged in a single series: Series I, Khudaibergen Divanov, Views and people of Khiva, 1910-1924.

Biographical / historical:

Khudaibergen Divanov (1879-1938; Uzbek: Xudoybergan Devonov; variously: Khudaybergen Divanov; Hudaibergen Divanov; Hudaybergan Devonov), the son of Nurmuhammad Divani, a court secretary to the Khivan Khan Muhammad Rahim Bahadur II, was Uzbekistan's first native photographer and filmmaker. Divanov learned photography from William Penner, a teacher at the German Mennonite settlement at Ak Metchet. Divanov's landscape photographs and portraits of his family caught the attention of local authorities who objected to them on religious grounds. When their complaints reached Muhammad Rahim II, the Khan responded by asking Divanov to take his portrait. Satisfied with the result, he gave Divanov a job at the Khivan mint and made him the official court photographer. In 1907, Divanov accompanied the Kahn's vizier to St. Petersburg where he was able to further his photography studies, returning to Khiva with a Pathé motion film camera and other photography equipment. In 1910, he filmed and produced the first Uzbek documentary film which featured Asfandiyar Khan, who had succeeded his father as Kahn of Khiva, riding in a phaeton. Divanov's other early films included Architectural Monuments of Our Land (1913) and The Sites of Turkestan (1916).

After the fall of the khanate in 1920, Divanov was installed as finance minister for the new People's Soviet Republic of Khorezm. An imprint of his seal is found on bank notes issued by the republic in 1922. He also continued his work as a photographer and filmmaker and was attached to the Central Documentary Film Studio as a correspondent. His studio was located in Tashkhovli, the summer palace of the former khan. During Stalin's Great Purge, Divanov was denounced as an "enemy of the nation" for his membership in the Mladokhivintsi "Young Khiva" movement during the reform period prior to the fall of the khanate. He was executed in a Yangiyul prison camp on October 4, 1938 at the age of 60.

Following the death of Joseph Stalin in 1958, Divanov was posthumously "rehabilitated" and a museum was established in his home in Khiva, where a cinema was also named after him. Although most of Divanov's archive was destroyed at the time of his arrest, the museum contains some of his documents and effects such as his first Pathé camera and a handful of glass plate negatives.

Sources consulted:

Anahita Photo Archive. "Hudaibergen Divanov, First Central Asian Photographer." http://www.anahitaphotoarchive.com/19th-and-early-20th-c-pre-revolutionary-photography/divanov-first-central-asian-photographer.

Fitz Gibbon, Kate. "Emirate and Empire: Photography in Central Asia 1858-1917. Posted September 29, 2009. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1480082 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1480082.

Golender, Boris. "The First Uzbek Photographer." Sanat, issue #4 (Januray 10, 2009). https://sanat.orexca.com/2009/2009-4/boris_golender-3.

Acquisition information:

Acquired in 2022.

Processing information:

Beth Ann Guynn processed the collection and wrote the finding aid in 2022.

Physical location:

Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record for this collection. Click here for the access policy.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:: Gates -- Uzbekistan -- Khiva
Mosques -- Uzbekistan -- Khiva
Uzbeks -- Portraits
Photographs, Original.
Salted paper prints -- Uzbekistan -- 20th century
Group portraits -- Uzbekistan -- 20th century

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:: Beth An Guynn
Date Encoded:: This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2022-08-10 10:46:42 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:: Open for use by qualified researchers.
Terms of access:: Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.