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City Street

Odo Dobrowolski

  • City Street 2
Basic information
ID
Г-I-604
Author
Odo Dobrowolski
Name
City Street
Date of creation
1907–?
Technique
drawing
Material
paper on cardboard watercolour Indian ink
Dimensions (height x width, cm)
13.8 x 9.6
Additionally
Type
graphic art
Genre
cityscape
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, primarily known as a master of graphic art and lithography, as well as an exceptional watercolourist and pastellist.
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 Kraków as a non-degree student at the Academy of Fine Arts.
Between 1908 and 1909, thanks to the support of the painter Jan Styka, Dobrowolski lived in Paris, followed by a brief stay in Munich. Upon returning to Lviv, between 1909 and 1910, the artist executed an oil decorative panel for the confectionery of Gabriela Zapolska – a famous playwright, actress, and one of the most prominent figures of the local bohemian elite. In 1911–1912, he worked in Paris once again. Following his return to Lviv, during the Russian occupation of the city during the First World War, he created a highly popular series of ten lithographs.
In June 1915, alongside the retreating Russian forces, the artist departed for Kyiv, where in 1917 the 34-year-old master died under unresolved circumstances.
The creative heritage of Odo Dobrowolski encompasses numerous cityscapes featuring views of Lviv and Paris, alongside portraits, interior sketches, and nature studies. His works are held in Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery, the National Museum in Kraków, the National Library and the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, as well as in private collections.
Object description
It is likely that one of the streets of Paris is depicted, dating from the artist’s first visit to the city in 1908–1909. The composition is built on strong colour contrasts, dominated by black executed in Indian ink. Black defines the volumes of the buildings and the simplified figures of people and a horse-drawn carriage. The usually bustling street has lost its vibrancy in the evening light; only the pink reflections of the setting sun in the sky and on the cobblestones add colour to the scene.
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

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