Collection

Three Men

Odo Dobrowolski

Basic information

ID: Г-I-609
Author: Odo Dobrowolski
Name: Three Men
Date of creation: 1907
Technique: drawing
Material: paper on cardboard watercolor 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
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 one of the earliest works by Odo Dobrowolski. The three men in different poses are depicted indoors. The man on the left is standing with his arms crossed and his back to the neighbor in the center; and the second man, in turn, is deep in thoughts, holding a smoking cigar. The third one is sitting in a chair, right in the depths of the composition, turning his head full face. All of them are presentably dressed in black jackets and bow ties. The characters’ images are concisely performed in Indian ink. Despite the lack of technical means, the author created a psychologically tense scene.

Inscriptions

In the lower left part of the work there is the author’s signature and date “Odo Dobr 07”.

Three Men

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