Bernardine Church in Lviv

Odo Dobrowolski

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-5172
Author: Odo Dobrowolski
Name: Bernardine Church in Lviv
Date of creation: 1915
Technique: colour autolithography
Material: imprint on paper
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 29.6 x 41

Additionally

Type: printmaking
Genre: landscape

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 ten works from a lithographic series depicting views of Lviv during the russian occupation in the winter of 1915. The view shows the Bernardine Church with its bell tower from the west, from Halytska Square – the ensemble is revealed most effectively from this vantage point. However, the artist chooses a perspective in which the bell tower becomes the principal compositional element, while the column of St John (Jan) of Dukla is completely obscured. The square in front of the church is empty, and the mass of the building is emphasised only by the orange glow of a street lamp before the façade. The light in the windows of the buildings adjacent to the bell tower further highlights its volume. The work is executed in muted grey tones. Both the snow and the sky are depicted darkened.

Inscriptions

In the lower left corner are the author's signature and date, "Оdo Dobrowolski / 915", written in italics.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery