SILVIJA GROSA JŪGENDSTILA PERIODA PLASTISKAIS UN ...

as Lwów and was in Poland. He died in 1944 in Warsaw. Otto studied at the
Lwów School of Art and, for two semesters (the first semester of the 1894/95 and
the second semester of the 1895/96 academic year) at the Krakow Academy of Art.
He began to work as an artist in 1896, returning to Lwów for a certain period of
time. He produced a number of sculptures, including some meant to decorate
buildings.
Early in his career, Otto did very well in competitions that were organised
in 1898 and 1900 by a Warsaw-based art association known as Towarzystwo
Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych, or Zachęta for short. In these competitions, he offered
two allegorical compositions for the association’s building. Otto arrived in Rīga
sometime around 1898, and his name was still listed in Rīga’s address listings in
1903. Achievements in competitions – one of them in Rīga – burnished Otto’s
popularity in Poland, both in Warsaw and in his native Lwów. Until the beginning
of World War I, he was active in several arts organisations, holding senior
positions therein. One was the aforementioned Zachęta association, which he
joined in 1901.We know that in the autumn of 1901, Zygmunt Otto married
Jadwiga Dąbrowska, who was the daughter of a well known Polish sculptress,
Waleria. It is unknown, however, how long Otto was part of the company known
as Otto & Wassil. Polish sources suggest that his activities in Rīga were merely
episodic, and there is no known evidence in Poland about his company or his
partner, Wassil. Sculptures for buildings are seen as the main area in which Otto
worked. A list of his works includes many decorative elements for buildings in
Warsaw during the first half of the 20 th century. Sadly, most of those buildings
were destroyed during World War II.
Otto also produced self-standing sculptures. Before World War I, he
participated in several competitions related to monuments. He sculpted grave
monuments and designed décor for the interiors of houses of worship. Otto was
once known as one of the leading Polish sculptors, although eventually his
reputation diminished and sank into obscurity. It is only in the last several decades
that interest in his work has reappeared, with Polish researchers focusing on the
link between his work and the tradition of Historicism and its Neo-Baroque style –
one that interweaved with elements of Art Nouveau in the early period of the latter
style. A look at the sculptor’s work in Warsaw shows that the Baroque trend
became ever more dominant over the course of the years.
The company initially known as Otto & Wassil and, later, as Wassil & Co.
mostly worked on elements of décor for buildings, but there are few buildings
today which can be attributed to their work with any certainty. We know that they
provided décor for the interior of the Rīga Russian Theatre (1902, architect August
Reinberg). They also provided décor for the building of the Rīga Association of
Latvian Craftsmen at Lāčplēša Street 25 (1902, architect Edmund von
Trompowsky). The latter building was erected for the needs of the Rīga Latvian
Association, and it is also known as the first home of the Rīga Latvian Theatre.
Then there were two apartment and retail buildings which were mentioned in a
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