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Carmelite Church in Lviv

Odo Dobrowolski

  • Carmelite Church in Lviv
Basic information
ID
Г-IV-5176
Author
Odo Dobrowolski
Name
Carmelite Church in Lviv
Date of creation
1915
Technique
colour autolithography
Material
imprint on paper
Dimensions
30.5 x 41.4 cm (height x width)
Additionally
Type
printmaking
Genre
landscape
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
One of ten works from a lithographic series depicting views of Lviv during the russian occupation in the winter of 1915. The former Church of the Discalced Carmelites is shown from below, from the Gunpowder Tower. To the right of the church stands the former monastery building. On the hillside, the snowdrifts appear darkened, and no windows are lit, lending the work an even more sombre and minor-key atmosphere.
Inscriptions
In the lower-left corner, the author's signature and date, "О Dobrowolski 915," are in italics.
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

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