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The Comédie-Française

Odo Dobrowolski

  • The Comédie-Française 2
Basic information
ID
Г-V-32
Author
Odo Dobrowolski
Name
The Comédie-Française
Date of creation
1911
Technique
drawing
Material
paper Indian ink coloured pencil
Dimensions (height x width, cm)
24 x 33.5
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 second stay in Paris (1911–1912). It depicts a fragment of Paris on a rainy evening. In the foreground is the corner of the Comédie-Française with a sculpture on its pedestal. A number of formally dressed men in black cloaks, white scarves, and top hats, as well as a few women – presumably attending a premiere – are gathered nearby. In the background, the silhouettes of buildings dissolve into the mist. The composition is rendered in subdued grey tones. Orange street lamps beside the sculpture and the bright vertical stripes glinting on the top hats serve as accentuating elements. The Comédie-Française was established in the 17th century. By the late 18th century, it had been relocated to a building appended to the Palais Royal. It remains the only state-funded theatre in Paris.
Inscriptions
In the lower left corner, there is a place of creation of the work and the author's signature “Odo Dobrowolski / 911 Paryż Komedya francuzka” in italics.
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

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