Emil Orlik

Chinesische Abende - Vintage Rare Book Illustrated by Emil Orlik - 1920

1920

Emil Orlik, born in Prague, studied at the Munich Academy and the Academic School of Engraving from 1891 to 1893. In 1896, he met Rainer Maria Rilke in Prague and followed him back to Munich, where he experimented with graphic techniques, especially woodcuts, together with Otto Pankok. Orlik mainly created portraits of Rilke, Döblin and Menzel, among others. From 1897, he was a member of the Munich magazine Die Jugend. The following year was marked by trips to England, Scotland, Holland and France, where he became acquainted with the woodcuts of Felix Valloton and William Nicholson, which influenced his artistic work. In 1899, Orlik joined the Vienna Secession and published his work in their magazine "Ver Sacrum". His first portfolio of graphic works, "Kleine Holzschnitte" (Small Woodcuts), was published in 1900, the year in which the artist also embarked on his first trip to East Asia. The fruits of this stay included lectures and publications in "Ver Sacrum" as well as another portfolio, "Aus Japan" (From Japan). After travelling to the European centres of Paris, London and Amsterdam, Orlik moved his studio to Vienna in 1904, where he was appointed professor at the state teaching institution of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin. There he succeeded Otto Eckmann as head of the graphic arts class and moved his studio to the German capital. In connection with this, Orlik ended his membership in the Vienna Secession in 1905 in order to join the Berlin Secession in 1908. The artist taught in his adopted home of Berlin until 1932, the year of his death. He was a chronicler of his time, portraying many well-known contemporaries in his graphic works and capturing significant events with his pencil. His decoration and costume designs for Max Reinhardt's productions at the Deutsches Theater are also significant. He continued to cultivate his love of travel, travelling to southern Europe and North America and condensing his impressions into graphic cycles. Emil Orlik, who trained as a painter at the beginning of his career, was one of the pioneers of a new, craft-oriented approach to art at the turn of the century, which he masterfully implemented in his graphic art against the backdrop of the English model.