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Lviv. Cityscape

Odo Dobrowolski

Basic information

ID: Г-I-607
Author: Odo Dobrowolski
Name: Lviv. Cityscape
Date of creation: 1907–?
Technique: drawing
Material: paper on cardboard watercolour Indian ink
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 34.5 x 27

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

The work is likely part of a series of the artist’s early pieces, executed prior to his trips to Paris. In the inventory book, it is listed under the title “Piskova Street in Lviv”. The objects depicted by Odo Dobrowolski do not exist on this street, so the veduta remains topographically undefined. The composition shows a section of the street descending steeply into the valley, flanked by brick fence posts and a prominent villa-like building below, with a sculptural relief between the windows and a pediment on the axis. The colour scheme is rendered in warm tones: the villa’s roof and the fence in front are shown in red; in the brickwork of the posts, strips of red brick alternate with ochre-beige. The villa’s plastered façade is painted in the same hues. Green foliage peeks out from beneath the fence’s green railings. Vertically, the composition is intersected by a lamp post leaning to the left, set on a cobbled pavement partially overgrown with grass.

Inscriptions

In the lower right part of the work, there is the author’s signature, “Odo Dobrowolski”, written in italics.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery