Lot 397
Emil Orlik – "From the 'Reigen' Trial" – 14 Signed Lithographs – Berlin, 1921 / Autograph Letter by Orlik
Aus dem Reigen-Process [From the 'Reigen' Trial], a portfolio with fourteen lithographs by Emil Orlik. Berlin: Neue Kunsthandlung, 1921.
Fourteen lithographs by Emil Orlik – portraits of participants in a trial which took place following the performance of the play "Reigen" by Arthur Schnitzler. The play composed in 1897 and performed for the first time only in 1921, arose, at the time, a public scandal due to its sexual context and provocative nature, and an indictment was submitted against the theater team that performed the play. Many were summoned to testify in court, including Emil Orlik, who passed the time by drawing the portraits of the attendants in court.
The lithographs are all signed by Orlik. The portfolio was printed in an edition of 180 copies. Presented is a copy which is not numbered, with a dedication handwritten by Orlik to one of the witnesses in this trial, Prof. Witkowski [most probably, the German scholar of literary history Georg Witkowski]. Enclosed is an handwritten letter by Orlik to Witkowski (German), from May 1922. Orlik writes, among other things, about his intention to dedicate one of the portfolio copies to him and comments that Witkowski's name was wrongly spelled and he will, therefore, have to correct the name by hand in all the copies [the correction in pencil can be seen in the portfolio]. Portfolio: [4] pp, [14] lithograph plates, 40 cm. Good condition. Some creases and slight damages. Portfolio stained and torn. Letter: 28 cm. Good condition. Folding marks. Some stains and slight damages.
