Emil Orlik, (Austrian, 1870 – 1932), Die Naherin, (The Seamstress)

The Studio was the preeminent art journal of the arts and crafts movement. Founded in 1893 by Charles Holmes in London it promoted and equal presentation of the fine and applied arts. It gave early exposure to the works of Aubrey Beardsley Macintosh and the Glasgow Style, and William Morris and the aesthetic movement.

Painter and printmaker Emil Orlik was born an Austrian citizen in Prague, then a provincial capital of the Austro-Hungarian empire. He studied with Heinrich Knirr, where his fellow students included Paul Klee. In 1891, he studied at the Munich Academy under Wilhelm Lindenschmit and Johann Leonhard Raab, with whom he learned printmaking, leading to wide-ranging experimentation with various printmaking processes, including woodcut. In 1898, Orlik traveled extensively throughout Europe, adapting and evolving his style in response to the artistic influences he encountered.

Orlik was fascinated by Japanese culture and art, ultimately spending a year there studying Japanese woodblock cutting and printing. His broad-gauged approach to art encompassed notable portraits, scenes of everyday life, and current events. He was commissioned to design color posters for the peace conference at Brest-Litovsk, which ended the conflict between Germany and Russia. In his later years, he studied and mastered photography, producing a series of iconic images of popular figures including Albert Einstein and Marlene Dietrich. Emil Orlik died in Berlin.