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City Street

Odo Dobrowolski

Basic information

ID: Г-I-606
Author: Odo Dobrowolski
Name: City Street
Date of creation: 1900s
Technique: drawing
Material: paper on cardboard watercolour Indian ink
Dimensions: 19.6 x 13.4 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: graphic art
Genre: cityscape

Information about author

Author: Odo Dobrowolski
Author in the original: Odo (Otton) 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. A similar monumental Parisian building appears in the watercolour “Winter Boulevard” (1909). The composition is built on strong colour contrasts, dominated by black executed in Indian ink. Black defines the volumes of the buildings, the simplified figures of passers-by, and the shadows of the rainy evening city. Bright accents – red, yellow, and light green – highlight the poster pillars in the left foreground, while on the right the composition is balanced by the structure of a street lamp.

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