250 000 CZK
| 9 804 €
Lot 51
RIVERBANK IN PARIS
53 x 48 cm (h x w)
Starting price
Price realized
450 000 CZK
| 17 647 €
| 17 647 €
price without premium
Oil on canvas.
Signed lower right: “orlik, 10”. Stamp on reverse: Quai Voltaire / Sennelier.
This painting, a snapshot-like rendering of the atmosphere of the city’s riverbank, was probably made during Emil Orlik’s trip to France in 1910. The segment, showing a coachman and part of a horse-drawn carriage in the foreground, gives the impression of a random street scene. It foreshadows Orlik’s in photography, which he experimented with more intensively following World War I. But first and foremost Orlik was a master draftsman and excellent printmaker. His style placed him among the Vienna Secession, and he was known as a portrait painter. He first studied under Knirr at an art school in Munich before attending the city’s Academy in 1893–1894. Encouraged by Bode, he became a professor at Prague’s School of Applied Arts in 1905. He perfected his art techniques, learning lithography in Prague, color woodblock prints in Munich, and pastel in 1898. In 1900 he travelled to Japan, where he learned traditional Japanese printing methods at woodblock and printing workshops. Orlik also voyaged to China, Egypt, North America, the Netherlands, France and Switzerland. He is considered a chronicler of his time because he portrayed many important figures in his prints, including Einstein, Schnitzler, Jannings, Mann and others. His works are sought by collectors in the Czech Republic and abroad.