Emil Orlik – A Secessionist Artist from Prague

The life and career of Emil Orlik symbolize the vibrancy of cultural exchange in the German-speaking world before and after the First World War. Born in Prague in 1870, Orlik was a true representative of the Habsburg Empire, with a correspondingly complex identity—Jewish, Czech, and German-speaking—which placed him close to the community of Bohemian Germans. Around the turn of the century, he became an integral part of the art and cultural scene of the Dual Monarchy as a member of the Vienna Secession, and the fellow Prague-born writer Rainer Maria Rilke published in 1900 his article “A Prague Artist,” dedicated to Orlik, in the Secession journal Ver Sacrum.Because of his extensive travels across Europe and his nearly year-long stay in Japan—during which he became an enthusiastic Japonist—Orlik brought a wealth of experience to the Prague and Viennese art worlds. After leaving the Vienna Secession in 1905 together with the group around Gustav Klimt, he established his studio in Berlin. There, he was appointed professor at the School of the Museum of Decorative Arts, a position he held until his retirement.In Berlin, Orlik flourished as an illustrator—his illustrations for the German edition of the works of Lafcadio Hearn, translated by Berta Franzos, who was born in Brody, became groundbreaking—but he also worked as a photographer as well as a stage and costume designer, collaborating for many years in the latter role with Max Reinhardt. In Berlin, he soon became so well integrated that he was regarded as a “German artist.”Orlik associated with members of the Berlin Secession such as Max Slevogt, Lovis Corinth, Max Kruse, and Max Liebermann. He died in 1932 in the German capital but was buried in his beloved Prague.