Seweryn Obst

{{Short description|Polish painter, illustrator, and ethnographer}}

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{{Infobox artist

| name = Seweryn Obst

| image = Obst Self-portrait.jpg

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1847|12|29|df=yes}}

| birth_place = {{ill|Nyzhniy Bereziv|lt=Berezów Niżny|uk|Нижній Березів}}, Austrian Empire (now Nyzhniy Bereziv, Ukraine)

| death_date = {{death date and age|1917|1|2|1847|12|29|df=yes}}

| death_place = Lemberg, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary (now Lviv, Ukraine)

| alma_mater = Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

}}

File:Huculi 1902.png

Seweryn Leopold Obst (29 December 1847 – 2 January 1917) was a Polish painter, illustrator, and ethnographer.

Life

Seweryn Obst was born in Berezów Niżny, now {{ill|Nyzhniy Bereziv|uk|Нижній Березів}}, Kosiv Raion, Ukraine.

Seweryn Obst attended several local schools throughout Galicia and Volhynia, then in 1864 went to study at the Academy of Fine Arts, in Vienna, where he studied with Karl von Blaas and Eduard von Engerth. He also took private lessons from Christian Ruben.[http://www.lwow.com.pl/lwowianie3.html Brief biography] from Famous Lvovians @ Mój Lwów. In 1874 he returned home and made his living painting portraits for noble families, including the Buhosevyches of Bukovina and the Zadurovyches of Tlumach Raion.

From childhood he had a fondness for the Hutsul region, and he settled there for several years, living in Verkhovyna and Yaremche. He not only painted scenes from the lives of the Hutsuls, but also collected folk stories and objects and did ethnographic studies. With some of what he saw, he created two albums of sketches of decorative motifs from metal-working, carving, weaving, and embroidery. These albums were presented to the {{ill|Dzieduszycki Museum|pl|Muzeum Przyrodnicze im. Dzieduszyckich we Lwowie}} in Lwów.

He moved to Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine, then officially Lemberg) in 1883 and created illustrations for numerous books about peasant arts and crafts. Some were used by Wołodymyr Szuchewycz in his notable study of the Hutsuls. Until 1898, he maintained a workshop where he also taught painting. He exhibited throughout the region and in London. After 1910, he lived in a retirement home for artists. A major retrospective was held in 1912. He died in Lemberg.

See also

References

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