Mariya Dmitriyevna Krivopolenova (Russian: Мария Дмитриевна Кривополенова, March 31 [O.S. March 19], 1843, Ust-Yezhuga, Pinezhsky Uyezd, Arkhangelsk Governorate, Russia — February 2, 1924, Veyegora, Pinezhsky Uyezd, Arkhangelsk Governorate, Russia) was a Russian folklore performer and a storyteller.
Mariya Krivopolenova was born as Mariya Kabalina in a peasant family on the Pinega River in the Northern Russia. In 1867, she got married and moved to the village of Shotogorka, also on the bank of the Pinega. She practiced storytelling, which she learned from her family, and when an interest to the northern Russian folklore increased, and folclore collectors started to travel to Arkhangelsk area in 1890s, she was noticed for her performance skills. First, Alexander Dmitriyevich Grigoryev, who travelled over the Pinega, met her and included some of the songs she performed in the collection of the Pinega folklore he published in 1902.[1] Apparently, she was living in a very poor family and was begging almost all of her life, until in the end of her life she could earn enough money by storytelling.
In 1915, Olga Ozarovskaya, a folklore performer who travelled to Arkhangelsk Governorate to collect songs, took Krivopolenova along to Moscow. Krivopolenova was performing in Moscow and then in Arkhangelsk with the great success, had her portrayed by the best artists (for instance, there is a wooden sculpture of Sergey Konyonkov), but then she returned back to the Pinega and was basically forgotten. She travelled again to Moscow in 1921, invited by Anatoly Lunacharsky, gave a number of concerts and returned back to the Pinega, where she died in 1924, at the age of 80.
Songs, fairy tales, and bylinas performed by Mariya Krivopolenova is standard material for the selections of the Northern Russia folklore.