Emil Orlík

Emil Orlik (21 July 1870 – 28 September 1932) was a Czech-German painter, etcher and lithographer. He lived and worked in Prague, Austria and Germany.

Orlik was born on 21 July 1870 in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary. He was the son of a Jewish tailor. He first studied art at the private art school of Heinrich Knirr, where one of his fellow pupils was Paul Klee. From 1891, he studied at the Munich Academy under Wilhelm Lindenschmit. Later he learned engraving from Johann Leonhard Raab and proceeded to experiment with various printmaking processes. His oldest portraits date from the years 1891–1893.

After completing his military service in Prague, he returned to Munich, where he worked for the magazine Jugend. He spent most of 1898, travelling through Europe, visiting the Netherlands, Great Britain, Belgium, and Paris. During this time he became aware of Japanese art, and the impact it was having in Europe, and decided to visit Japan to learn woodcut techniques. He left for Asia in March 1900, stopping off in Hong Kong, before reaching Japan, where he stayed until February 1901.