Olga Fominichna Mizgireva (russian: Ольга Фоминична Mизгирёва; 1908 – 1994) was a Turkmenistani painter and botanist.

Life

Mizgireva was born in Tashkent in 1908. Her family stems from the village of

Garrygala Magtymguly (formerly Garrygala, Kara-Kala, russian: Кара-Кала) is a city ( tk, şäher) in far south-western Turkmenistan in Balkan Province. It lies west of Aydere and is the administrative capital of Magtymguly District. In 1972 it ha ...

in southwest Turkmenistan. As a child, she exhibited interest in painting, and attended the experimental UShIVУдарная школа искусств Востока, Eastern Shock-School of Arts school for young talents in Ashgabat. Alexander Vladychik, the director of the school, would become her husband. Her art was based on the traditional Turkmen motifs, painted in bright colors. Her paintings ''Heat'', ''Turkmen girls'', ''Creativity Carpet'', and ''Four Wives'' are now on exhibit in the Turkmen Museum of Fine Arts. In 1934, she received a commission for illustration of species collection of tulips by academician Nikolai Vavilov, on an order from the Netherlands. The work included several thousands of drawings. She returned to her home area of Garrygala, and started working as a laboratory technician in the Turkmenistan Research Station of the Federal Institute of Agriculture. She would remain there for her entire life. She took the duty of the director of the station in 1944, the position she would keep for her whole career, until the retirement in 1981. She spent many years to help establishment of a '' Zapovednik'' (national park) in the Kopet Dag mountains, which was opened as the

Sünt-Hasardag Nature Reserve Sünt-Hasardag Nature Reserve is a nature reserve (''zapovednik'') of Turkmenistan. Established in 1977 for the protection of indigenous flora and fauna, it is located in south-western part of the Kopetdag Range in Balkan Province Balkan R ...

park in 1973. Mizgireva is credited with the 1938 discovery of Turkmenian mandrake, ''Mandragora turcomanica'', rare species of mandrake from the Kopet-Dag area.

References

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External links

Реликт. Из подлинных историй Русской Азии
Turkmenistan Chronicle
Paintings of Olga Mizgireva
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mizgireva, Olga 1908 births 1994 deaths 20th-century botanists 20th-century women painters 20th-century Turkmenistan women 20th-century women artists 20th-century women scientists Artists from Tashkent People from Balkan Region People from Syr-Darya Oblast Scientists from Tashkent Recipients of the Order of the Badge of Honour Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Botanists with author abbreviations Soviet botanists Soviet women painters Turkmenistan women painters Women botanists