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Paris. Alma Bridge over the Seine

Odo Dobrowolski

  • Paris. Alma Bridge over the Seine 2
Basic information
ID
Г-II-281
Author
Odo Dobrowolski
Name
Paris. Alma Bridge over the Seine
Date of creation
1909
Technique
drawing
Material
cardboard pastel
Dimensions (height x width, cm)
65 x 95
Additionally
Type
graphic art
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
The work was created during the artist’s first visit to Paris in 1908–1909. He depicts one of the city’s well-known bridges, standing on the banks of the Seine in the late evening. Diagonally across the composition run the arches of the bridge, supported by massive round piers (it is known that sculptures once stood on these piers, which the artist does not depict). The roadway is covered in snow, while lamps line the edges of the span, their light reflected in emerald and citron hues on the calm waters of the Seine. The Alma Bridge (Pont de l’Alma) was built after the Crimean War and named in honour of the allied victory at the Alma River. In the 1970s, the bridge was replaced by a new structure with a wider roadway. In 1996, Princess Diana died in the tunnel near this bridge.
Inscriptions
In the lower left corner, there is the author's signature, date, and the title of the work, “Odo Dobrowolski 09/ Paryż Pont de l’Alma”, written in italics.
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

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