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St Mary's Square in Lviv

Odo Dobrowolski

  • St Mary's Square in Lviv 2
Basic information
ID
Г-IV-5170
Author
Odo Dobrowolski
Name
St Mary's Square in Lviv
Date of creation
1915
Technique
colour autolithography
Material
imprint on paper
Dimensions (height x width, cm)
38.3 x 28.7
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, created during the russian occupation in the winter of 1915. The artist portrays St Mary's Square with the monument to Adam Mickiewicz, seen from the south-west. In the centre of the composition, two military vehicles move along a snow-covered street. On the left are dark figures of city dwellers. Against the subdued background, the illuminated volume of the poet’s monument stands out clearly. The light in the windows brings to life the gloomy cityscape, rendered in muted grey tones.
Inscriptions
In the lower-left corner, there is an inscription "Odo Dobrowolski 915 Lwów" in italics: the author's signature, date, and place of performance of the work.
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

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