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Notre-Dame Cathedral at Dusk

Odo Dobrowolski

Basic information

ID: Г-I-315
Author: Odo Dobrowolski
Name: Notre-Dame Cathedral at Dusk
Previous attributions: Notre-Dame at Night
Country: France
Material: cardboard watercolour
Dimensions: 67.5 x 43.5 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: graphic art
Genre: landscape
Plot: City landscape
Provenance: Collection of Leon Pininski

Information about author

Author: Odo Dobrowolski
Author in the original: Odo (Otton) 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 descent, known primarily as a graphic artist and master of lithography, as well as for his refined works in watercolour and pastel.
He was born into the family of Józef Dobrowolski, an official at the Austrian Governorship of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, and Eugenia Wittich. The artist was likely named after Otto the Great, the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. After graduating from a gymnasium in Lviv, in the mid-1900s he studied in Krakow as a non-matriculated student at the Academy of Fine Arts.
In 1908–1909, with the support of the painter Jan Styka, Dobrowolski lived in Paris before spending a brief period in Munich. Upon returning to Lviv, in 1909–1910, he painted a decorative oil panel for the confectionery of Gabriela Zapolska – a renowned playwright, actress, and one of the most prominent figures of the city's high society of the time. In 1911–1912, Odo worked in Paris once again. Following his return to Lviv, during the russian occupation of the city in the First World War, he created a series of ten lithographs that gained wide acclaim.
In June 1915, he left for Kyiv alongside the retreating russian troops, where the 34-year-old artist died in 1917 under unexplained circumstances.
The artist's oeuvre encompasses numerous cityscapes featuring views of Lviv and Paris, as well as portraits, interior sketches, and life studies. His works are held in Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery, the National Museum in Krakow, the National Library and the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, as well as in private collections.

Object description

The artist has depicted a view of the two towers of Notre-Dame de Paris. The composition is set from the south-west, south of the Seine, looking out from a small street. On the right is a low wall with posters hanging from it; on the left is a section of the facade of a tall building, which occupies the left side of the composition vertically. The light from two street lamps is emphasised in the foreground and background. Above, against a greyish-ochre sky, the cathedral's towers rise, their details fading into the evening mist.

Inscriptions

Signed, dated and inscribed bottom left: "Odo Dobrowolski/ 911 Paryz".

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Notre-Dame Cathedral at Dusk

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