1. Olga Rapay-Markish was one of the best-known Ukrainian ceramicists of her era.
17 Facts About Olga Rapay-Markish
1. 2.
Olga Rapay-Markish is especially noted for her large decorative works on buildings throughout Kyiv.
3.
Olga Rapay-Markish's father was a Soviet Jewish writer and her mother was a translator and interpreter.
4.
Olga Rapay-Markish's mother had left Peretz, though they were married, while still pregnant with Olga because there were many other women around Peretz.
5.
Olga Rapay-Markish was arrested in 1937 during the Great Purge and shot.
6.
Olga Rapay-Markish gave birth to her daughter Kateryna while still in exile.
7.
Olga Rapay-Markish began working as a sculptor at the Kyiv Experimental Ceramic Art Factory.
8.
Olga Rapay-Markish's work was known for its feminine qualities, which represented images of famous artists and porcelain figurines of women in the Ukrainian national costumes.
9.
Olga Rapay-Markish was a gifted painter and, during this period, decorated porcelain dishes, plates, and platters.
10.
Olga Rapay-Markish worked at the factory for eleven years, and left in 1967 because working in the factory, she had no rights to her own work.
11.
When she left KEKHZ in 1967, Olga Rapay-Markish held her first solo exhibition of her porcelain works.
12.
Olga Rapay-Markish continued to work with ceramics, but on individual pieces which were not replicated.
13.
Olga Rapay-Markish became involved in architectural projects, designing and decorating both interiors and facades with massive ceramic works.
14.
Olga Rapay-Markish completed more than ten of these large-scale projects in Kyiv.
15.
Olga Rapay-Markish continued working on sculpture, but preferred not to exhibit, though her work was featured in a 2004 anniversary exhibition of artists from KEKHZ and a 2007 exhibit of ceramicists, which was hosted by the National Art Museum of Ukraine.
16.
Posthumously, a tour of Olga Rapay-Markish's work was presented in 2014, and another with collected museum pieces called "Grace and Fools" toured in 2015.
17.
Olga Rapay-Markish's works are held at the Republican Children's Library in Kyiv, in the lobbies of the Institute of Physiology and Institute of Botany, and in the collections of the Ministry of Culture, the Union of Artists of Ukraine, as well as in many private collections in Israel, Russia, Switzerland, and Ukraine.