Portrait of Nelly Neppach, 1925

Emil Orlik (1870–1932) was the chronicler of his era. He portrayed numerous personalities from politics and culture, capturing them by means of various graphic techniques in drawings, etchings, woodcuts and lithographs. His portraits, among others of Thomas Mann (1875–1955), Marc Chagall (1887–1985) and, following his move to Vienna, of Gustav Klimt (1862–1918), Josef Hoffmann (1870–1956) and Gustav Mahler (1860–1911), attracted great interest among the public. The artist liked to travel and was especially spellbound by the magic of Japan, which shaped the style of his oeuvre. Orlik managed to capture the characteristic elements of a face with only a few lines. He rarely added color accents to his black drawing pencil, as in the case of the portrait of Nelly Neppach (1891–1933), the German tennis legend. Her red lips catch the eye and provide a strong contrast to her black pageboy hairstyle. Orlik only needed a few lines to make us familiar with the sportswoman.

BL, 2021