Elisabeth Bergner, 1923

Elisabeth Bergner (1897–1986) was an Austrian theater and film actress who lived in Berlin in the 1920s and had great theater success. Her close acquaintance with the graphic artist and sculptor Georg Ehrlich (1897–1966) resulted in several portraits of the celebrated star of the stage, with the artist taking special interest in the changeability of her face. Her clear facial features, the earnest blank eyes, the empty gaze, and the lips pressed tightly together all become markedly visible against an expressively designed background. Ehrlich was fascinated by this new type of women, dancers, actors, and film stars, oscillating between newly awakened self-confidence and fragility of the soul. In Elisabeth Bergner as his model, he found the ideal person to embody these characteristics.

AK, 2021