Latif Huseyn oglu Karimov ( az, Lətif Hüseyn oğlu Kərimov; 17 November 1906 in

Shusha / hy, Շուշի , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = ShushaCollection2021.jpg , image_caption = Landmarks of Shusha, from top left:Ghazanchetsots Cathedral • Yukhari Govhar ...

– 8 September 1991 in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

) was an

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

i carpet designer known for his contributions to a variety of artistic fields, as well as for a number of books classifying and describing various designs of

Azerbaijani rug Azerbaijani rugs ( az, Azərbaycan xalçaları) are traditional rugs made in Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani rug is a handmade textile of various sizes, with a dense texture and a pile or pile-less surface, whose patterns are characteristic of Azerbai ...

Early life

Latif Karimov was born in Shusha (then part of

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, now in

). His father Mashadi Huseyn was a

hatter Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of g ...

and his mother Telli was a

carpet A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fibers such as polypropylene, nylon, or polyester hav ...

-weaver. In 1910, the family moved to

Mashhad Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of R ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, and settled in the

Karabakh Karabakh ( az, Qarabağ ; hy, Ղարաբաղ, Ġarabaġ ) is a geographic region in present-day southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia, extending from the highlands of the Lesser Caucasus down to the lowlands between the rivers Kura (Caspia ...

i quarter of the city. After graduating from the local

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

at age 14, Latif Karimov started working at a carpet shop and learning the art of carpet weaving following his mother's footsteps. He traveled extensively throughout Iran excelling in this craft. Alongside, Karimov had a variety of interests ranging from boxing to literature and performing arts. The Soviet Consulate in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

invited him to become a member of the Russian cultural club, where he later directed and acted in plays by

Uzeyir Hajibeyov Uzeyir bey Abdulhuseyn oghlu Hajibeyov ( az, Üzeyir bəy Əbdülhüseyn oğlu Hacıbəyov; russian: Узеир Абдул-Гусейн оглы Гаджибеков, translit=Uzeir Abdul-Guseyn ogly Gadzhibekov; September 18, 1885November 23, 19 ...

and established an Azeri choir.Latif Karimov
''Bakupages.com'' Beginning in the late 1920s, Karimov participated in social movements demanding on behalf of weavers of Mashhad an eight-hour working day and improvement of working conditions. In 1929 he was sent on an official mission to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

to promote theatrical arts. However Karimov returned to Iran two months later not being able to endure the harsh living conditions of Afghanistan. On that year he obtained Soviet citizenship, and the government of Iran, suspicious of his social involvement, offered him an option of moving to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, which Karimov accepted.

Soviet period

Latif Karimov settled in his native Shusha and married Shovkat, a young local carpet-weaver. He was appointed import instructor to a carpet factory. In addition, he founded and conducted courses in carpet weaving introducing Iranian techniques that were not known to the Karabakh weavers. For students who were illiterate and could not take notes, he composed ''goshmas'' ( Azeri poetic genre) to get them to remember weaving procedures. He later set up similar courses in

Quba Quba () is a city and the administrative centre of the Quba District of Azerbaijan. The city lies on the north-eastern slopes of Shahdag mountain, at an altitude of 600 metres above sea level, on the right bank of the Kudyal river. It has a po ...

and Baku. In addition to carpets, Karimov successfully designed jewellery, wood carvings, china and fabric patterns, and decorated the interior of buildings. In 1937, he was hired to design the Azeri hall of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition together with Rustam Mustafayev. In the 1940s while he was decorating the interior of the Nizami Museum, the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sout ...

broke out, and Karimov was hired as to the Azerbaijan State Radio as an Iranian news edition broadcaster. In 1945 he was appointed head of the Department of Fine Arts at the

National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) ( az, Azərbaycan Milli Elmlər Akademiyası (AMEA)), located in Baku, is the main state research organization and the primary body that conducts research and coordinates activities in the fields of ...

Institute of the Arts. Between 1947 and 1977 he compiled the Dictionary of Oriental Music. In 1950 he received the

Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...

, the highest ranking award in the Soviet Union. In 1954 he organized his first personal exhibition which featured carpets, architectural ornaments, wood carvings, china vases, jewellery, graphic items, etc. Between 1961 and 1983 he published a three-volume book on the history, development and structure of over 1300 Azeri carpet pattern elements. His efforts and enthusiasm led to the establishment of the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum in 1967, first one of this kind in the world. The Azerbaijan Carpet Museum was named in his honour in 1991.

Criticism

According to peer-reviewed ''International Journal of Heritage Studies'', Karimov's carpet taxonomy and classification was part of a nationalist project.

References

External link

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karimov, Latif 1906 births 1991 deaths 20th-century textile artists Artists from Shusha Honored Art Workers of the Azerbaijan SSR Stalin Prize winners Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Azerbaijani art historians Soviet art historians Soviet textile artists