Rysin Khaim (Efim) (Chaim (Jefim)) Mikhailovich (1911, Posin, Vitebsk Province — 1998, Riga) — metal artist.
From 1926 to 1929 Khaim Rysin worked at the jewellery firm “L. Rosenthal” in Riga, from 1929 to 1936 in the workshop of G. Mayer, “Rutkovsky and Mayer,” and from 1936 to 1939 in the workshop “Rīgas sudrabs” (“Riga Silver”), which he founded together with R. Krasts and A. Naika.
Before the war he mainly worked in small silver forms, producing items such as church utensils for Riga Cathedral, as well as commissions from organisations and private clients (cups, candlesticks, table services, inkstands, mounts for crystal vessels, etc.).
Alongside his work as a metal artist, he graduated from the evening Jewish gymnasium in Riga and studied vocal performance (tenor, a pupil of A. G. Zherebtsova-Andreyeva). In 1940–1941 he was a soloist of Riga Radio.
During the Second World War he was evacuated to Tashkent, where he worked in the military industry producing high-precision metal parts.
In 1945 he founded a metalworking section at the “Māksla” (“Art”) combine in Riga, which became an important contractor for monumental decorative works throughout the USSR. Between 1945 and 1982 he participated in the design and decorative finishing of about 40 interiors and façades, including: 9 Moscow metro stations, 3 metro stations in Leningrad, 1 metro station in Tashkent, the Kremlin Palace of Congresses (including the metal curtain with Lenin’s portrait), the Artek pioneer camp in Crimea, the high-rise building of the Latvian Academy of Sciences.
From 1982 he returned entirely to small forms (cups, vases, candlesticks, table services), demonstrating virtuoso mastery of metalworking techniques and the ability to translate complex artistic ideas into metal. His personal exhibitions were held in Riga in 1986, 1991, and 1993.
His works are preserved in the Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts (Riga), the Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow), and in private collections in Latvia, Russia, Germany, France, and the United States.
Works:
Metal and the Soul: An Artist about His Life. Riga, 1997.
Literature:
Metālmāksla, Nov.–Dec. 1986: Exhibition catalogue. Riga, 1986;
Metal in Art. Riga, 1991.
Selected art works:
K. Rysin. Latvian Football Challenge Cup. 1937. Silver, 4 kg (in collaboration with A. Naika and E. Vītols).
K. Rysin. Metal curtain of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, Moscow. 1961. 460 m², 65 tons (sketch by A. Mylnikov).
K. Rysin. Menorah. 1990. Brass. Synagogue in Aachen, Germany.