This attractive still life by Emil Orlik testifies to the various influences the artist had incorporated into his very personal style over the course of his oeuvre. The presentation of the fruit on the light cloth is reminiscent of Cézanne's still life; but the artist received the decisive influences that would make his work so characteristic on his extensive travels. His stay in Japan was particularly formative for his style. The extreme landscape format and the asymmetrical composition go back to the inspirations he had received there and make the work unmistakable.
The very special work of art, exhibited in Vienna in 1934 as part of the artist's estate, was once part of the Therese Benjamin Collection. The wealthy and well-known banker's widow not only lived in a villa on Wannsee, but also had an elegant apartment in the center of Berlin, the famous late-classical "Villa Wuttke" (Derfflingerstraße 8), where this painting by Emil Orlik was also on display.
When Therese Benjamin died at the age of 88 on Easter Sunday in 1936, her children became joint heirs. The community of heirs included well-known names: Erich Benjamin, pioneering pediatrician, Conrad Benjamin (Benning), acknowledged classical philologist, the architect Fritz Benjamin and the descendants of the already deceased daughter Bertha Edel, inherited the present work of art (on the Benjamin family, see S. Oechsle, Leben und Werk des jüdischen Wissenschaftlers und Kinderarztes Erich Benjamin, Munich 2003, and A. Drecoll, Die Biografie eines Entwurzelten. Der Kinderarzt Erich Benjamin, in: T. Bauer et al (eds.), Gesichter der Zeitgeschichte, Munich 2009, pp. 103-114).
However, their living conditions were already dramatic at this point, as the Jewish Benjamin (Benning) family faced massive oppression from the National Socialists. Lifes were destroyed, families were torn apart, and not all family members were be able to flee to safer countries.
Fritz Benjamin, the youngest son who was protected by a so-called mixed marriage, organized the sale of his mother's art collection in the summer of 1936. An auction entitled "Furnishings of Mrs. Th. B." was held right at Villa Wuttke. The painting by Emil Orlik initially remained unsold, because the times for art auctions were anything but good in 1936. When it was offered again in February 1937, the painting would change owners. It is no longer possible to determine whether the buyer "Blumenreich" was the Jewish art dealer who also face persecution. After the war, the painting reappeared in the Dresden art trade and reached its current owner after several szops with other owners. He did not hesitate to agree to a "fair and just solution" with the heirs of Conrad, Erich, Bertha Edel and Fritz Benjamin in line with the Washington Principles. This extraordinary work of art can now be offered without pending restitution claims and with the best agreement of all parties involved. [EH/AT]