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Three Men

Odo Dobrowolski

  • Three Men 2
Basic information
ID
Г-I-609
Author
Odo Dobrowolski
Name
Three Men
Date of creation
1907
Technique
drawing
Material
paper on cardboard watercolour Indian ink
Dimensions (height x width, cm)
23.4 x 14.5
Additionally
Type
graphic art
Genre
group portrait
Information about author
Author
Odo Dobrowolski
Artist's lifetime
1883–1917
Country
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Biography
Odo (Otton) Dobrowolski (1883, Chernivtsi – 1917, Kyiv) was a Lviv artist of Polish-German origin. He is mainly known as a graphic artist, particularly a watercolourist, 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 private collections.
Object description
One of Odo Dobrowolski’s early works. Three men are depicted in an interior in different poses. The figure on the left stands with arms crossed, turning his back on the man at the centre, who, in turn, is lost in deep thought, holding a smouldering cigar. The third figure sits in a chair on the right, in the depth of the composition, facing the viewer. All the figures are smartly dressed in dark suit jackets and bow ties. The characters are rendered succinctly in Indian ink. Despite the limited technical means, the artist creates a psychologically tense scene.
Inscriptions
In the lower left corner are the artist’s signature and date: “Odo Dobr 07”.
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

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