UK
Collection

Self-Portrait with a Squinted Eye

Odo Dobrowolski

  • Self-Portrait with a Squinted Eye 2
Basic information
ID
Г-V-55
Author
Odo Dobrowolski
Name
Self-Portrait with a Squinted Eye
Date of creation
1907
Technique
drawing
Material
paper chalk
Dimensions (height x width, cm)
38.5 x 42
Additionally
Type
graphic art
Genre
landscape
Information about author
Author
Odo Dobrowolski
Artist's lifetime
1883–1917
Biography
Odo (Otton) Dobrowolski (1883, Chernivtsi – 1917, Kyiv) was a Lviv artist of Polish-German origin. He is mainly known as a graphic artist, in particular a watercolorist, a master of pastels and lithographs. His parents were Jozef Dobrowolski, the Austrian governor of Galicia-Lodomeria, and Eugenia Wittich. Apparently, the artist was named after Otto the Great, the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He graduated from the gymnasium in Lviv. In the mid-1900s, Dobrowolski was in Krakow as a non-degree student of the Academy of Fine Arts. Between 1908 and 1909, thanks to the support of the artist Jan Styka, he was in Paris and then in Munich for a short while. After returning to Lviv between 1909 and 1910, the artist made an oil decorative panel for the confectionery of Gabriela Zapolska, a famous playwright, actress, and a bright representative of the Lviv elite. In 1911 and 1912, he was in Paris again. Then he was in Lviv, where during the Russian occupation he created a series of 10 lithographs, which were very popular. In June 1915, during the retreat of the Russians, the artist went to Kyiv, where he died under uncertain circumstances at the age of 34 in 1917. The artistic heritage of Odo Dobrowolski includes numerous cityscapes, particularly views of Lviv and Paris, as well as portraits, interior sketches, and images of nature. The works are stored in Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery, as well as in the National Museum in Krakow, the National Library in Warsaw, the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, and in private collections.
Object description
This is the most characteristic self-portrait of the artist at the age of 24, in which he portrays himself as a representative of bohemia with a confident and contemptuous gaze, which, obviously, hides the deep inner world of the artist. This is a shoulder-length profile portrait of a man looking at the viewers with his head half-turned to the left. There is a cigarette between his thick lips; on his head there is a beret, and one of his eyes is squinted. The collar of the jumper completely covers his neck. In contrast to the following staged self-portraits (with a skull), this work emphasizes the true features of the presented image.
Inscriptions
On the left there is a diagonally written author's signature and the date "Odo Dobrowolski 07" in Indian ink. In the lower right corner there is the author's signature "Оdo Dobrowolski 07" written in pencil.
Portrayed person
The name of the person portrayed
Odo Dobrowolski
Lifetime of the person portrayed
1883–1917

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