Olga Rapay-Markish (1 August 1929 – 1 February 2012;Ukrainian:Ольга Перецівна Рапай-Маркіш,Russian:Ольга Петровна Рапай,Hebrew:אולגה רפאי-מרקיש) was one of the best-knownUkrainianceramicists of her era. She is especially noted for her large decorative works on buildings throughoutKyiv. Previous to her architectural decoration, she worked as a ceramicist at theKyiv Experimental Ceramic Art Factory, where she was known for her delicate figurines as well as her paintings on china and dishware.

Olga Rapay-Markish
Born	Olga Peretsіvna Markіsh (1929-08-01)1 August 1929 Kharkiv,Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
Died	1 February 2012(2012-02-01) (aged 82) Israel
Nationality	Ukrainian
Other names	Olga Rapay, Olga Markish-Rapay
Occupation(s)	Ceramicist, sculptor
Years active	1956–2012
Known for	Architectural ceramics, circus figurines, and clowns

Olga Peretsіvna Markіsh was born on 1 August 1929 inKharkiv,Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, to Zinaida Joffe andPeretz Markish.^{[citation needed]} Her father was aSovietJewish writer and her mother was a translator and interpreter.^[1] Her mother had left Peretz, though they were married, while still pregnant with Olga because there were many other women around Peretz. Joffe took Olga to live in the Jewish settlement inZaporizhzhia with her grandparents in 1930 and went to work as a nurse and translator for theRed Army. In 1934, after Joffe had remarriedBoris Tkachenko [uk], she returned for her daughter. Olga and her sister Maya were then taken to Kyiv, where they remained until Tkachenko's arrest. He was arrested in 1937 during theGreat Purge and shot. As was the law, her mother was then arrested as the wife of a convicted criminal and sent to agulag (work camp). Because Olga was not Tkachenko's daughter, she was sent toMoscow to live with her father and his new wife, Esther, with their sons Shimon and David.^[1]

DuringWorld War II, Peretz evacuated his family toTashkent,Uzbekistan. A few years after the war's end, around 1947, Olga was taken to Kyiv, where she began studying at theInstitute of Art History. In 1949, the Soviet Union began a wave ofJewish purges, wherein theNKVD arrested members of the Anti-Fascist Committee, including her father.^[2] Peretz was executed in 1952 on charges of "Jewish nationalism", and his family was exiled toKazakhstan^[3] to serve a ten-year sentence asenemies of the people.^{[citation needed]} For two years they were shuttled between northernKazakhstan^[4] andAbakan, in theKhakassia region of southernSiberia.^[5]

In the early 1950s, Olga Markish had begun a relationship with Nikolay Rapay, and though she was exiled, he visited her and they became engaged. She gave birth to her daughter Kateryna while still in exile.^[2] In 1955, after the death ofStalin, the family returned to Moscow and wererehabilitated.^[3] Rapay went and retrieved Markish and together they returned to Kyiv,^[2] where she completed her studies in 1956 with a degree from the sculpture department. Her student project "Uzbechka" was acclaimed and accepted for mass production.^[4]

Rapay-Markish began working as a sculptor at theKyiv Experimental Ceramic Art Factory (Ukrainian:Київський експериментальний кераміко-художній завод) (KEKHZ). Her work was known for its feminine qualities, which represented images of famous artists andporcelain figurines of women in theUkrainian national costumes. Replications of her sculptures were then made at thePolonne ceramic factory and theKorosten porcelain factory.^[4] She was a gifted painter and, during this period, decorated porcelain dishes, plates, and platters.^[6] Some of her most renowned pieces from this period are figurines of famous opera singersBela Rudenko andLarisa Arhipіvna Rudenko [uk], circus performerOleg Popov, mimeMarcel Marceau, and actorCharlie Chaplin.^[4][6][7] During her time there she collaborated with her colleague, the ceramicistOksana Zhnikrup.^[8] Rapay-Markish worked at the factory for eleven years, and left in 1967^[4] because working in the factory, she had no rights to her own work.^[5]

When she left KEKHZ in 1967, Rapay-Markish held her first solo exhibition of her porcelain works.^[6] She continued to work with ceramics, but on individual pieces which were not replicated.^[4] Her favorite themes wereclowns andharlequin figurines.^[2] She also became involved in architectural projects, designing and decorating both interiors and façades with massive ceramic works.^[5] These large projects are her most well-known works and, because of their visibility in the center of Kyiv, she is one of the most recognizable Ukrainian ceramicists.^[7] She completed more than ten of these large-scale projects in Kyiv. One, which is still standing, is at the National Creative Collectives House, built in the 1970s. Over 300 square metres (3,200 sq ft) of handmadeporcelain tiles decorate the building with bright depictions like children's drawings of animals, birds, flowers, and trees. Another building, since destroyed, was the Bratislava Hotel's two dining rooms. One, entitled "Slavic", featured ten female figures of different Slavic nations including Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, and others. The other dining room was called "Kyiv" and was decorated with statues ofKyi, Shchek and Khoryv, legendary founders of Kyiv.^[5]

After her 70th birthday at her apartment at 30 Kikvidze Street,^[5] Rapay-Markishimmigrated toIsrael.^[7] She continued working on sculpture, but preferred not to exhibit,^[5] though her work was featured in a 2004 anniversary exhibition of artists from KEKHZ and a 2007 exhibit of ceramicists, which was hosted by theNational Art Museum of Ukraine.^[9] She died on 1 February 2012 in Israel.^{[citation needed]} She is buried inPetah Tikva, Syrkin Str., cemetery Zgula.

Posthumously, a tour of Rapay-Markish's work was presented in 2014, and another with collected museum pieces called "Grace and Fools" toured in 2015. That same year, an annotated catalog of her china works was produced.^[6] Her 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.;^[10] and also in Hungary, at the widow of Shimon Markish. The National Creative Collectives House located at 50–52 Shevchenko Boulevard, features her ceramics on the façades of the building.^[11]

• Video of works