Back

Panorama with St George's Cathedral

Odo Dobrowolski

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-5175
Author: Odo Dobrowolski
Name: Panorama with St George's Cathedral
Date of creation: 1910s
Technique: colour autolithography
Material: imprint on paper
Dimensions: 28.6 x 38.8 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 the lithographs not included in the series of views of Lviv in the winter of 1915. The work was executed earlier, in summer, and is likely one of the artist’s first lithographs. St George's Hill is depicted at dusk from the south-west, from the current site of the new buildings of the Lviv Polytechnic National University. The view reveals the ensemble of St George’s Cathedral: above the chapter house, the cathedral rises against a starry sky, with the bell tower alongside. To the left is a panorama of the northern part of the city, with factory chimneys and the slopes of Castle Hill. In front of St George's Hill stretches a green area, depicted in the late evening as dark, almost black.

Inscriptions

In the lower-left corner, there is the author's signature, "Odo Dobrowolski", written in italics.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery