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A biographic sketch of Lorenzo Homar in the
catalogue of the
inaugural exhibit of San Juan's Museum of Puerto Rican Art in 2000
captures his significance within Puerto Rican arts: "Homar
is one of the most important figures of the Generation of the
Fifties and is recognized as the innovator and towering figure of
the significant graphic arts tradition."
Lorenzo Homar was a pivotal figure of the
fields of design and
plastic arts during the second part of the 20th century. While his
artistic production encompassed a large number of works across an
array of media, his largest contribution to Puerto Rican arts was
through his posters and printed engravings. He was a leader behind
the popularization and internalization of the afiche, a
commemorative medium equivalent to the poster. As a graphic
designer and artist, Homar served as a teacher, a mentor and an
inspiration for a group of Puerto Rican artists who collectively
became known as Generación del Cincuenta (Generation of the
Fifties).
Homar was born in the San
Juan neighborhood of Puerta de Tierra
on September 10, 1913. His parents were Lorenzo Homar and Margarita
Gelabert, who had migrated to Puerto Rico from Spain. Both parents
had creative inclinations. His father was a film distributor and
his mother was a pianist. His main interests throughout his life
were arts and athletics. In his youth he was a talented gymnast and
acrobat as well as a recognized artist: by the time he was 13, one
of his posters had received an honorary mention in a contest.
During his childhood, Homar attended schools
in San Juan but
also went to school in Spain, where his parents briefly relocated.
At age 15, he and his family moved to New York searching for better
economic opportunities. They arrived at the peak of the Great
Depression, so Homar's educational opportunities were curtailed. He
had to leave school and work to help his family make ends meet.
Nonetheless, he remained active in sports by receiving athletic
training in acrobatics and gymnastics at the YMCA. He also had a
keen interest in music, but lacked the means to pursue it
further.
By 1931, Homar had enrolled
at the Art Student League, where
worked under the tutelage of George Bridgeman. He encouraged Homar
to express himself in different artistic styles, so that he could
develop an aesthetic approach of his own (Garcia Cuevas 2001). Even
while Homar continued his athletic training, he began to focus more
on the development of his creative skills.
Homar's artistic talents progressed quickly
and he was able to
secure an apprenticeship at Cartier. His work with Ernest Loth, a
master designer at Cartier, was key in his development of skills in
the field of engraving. That, in turn, would play a fundamental
role in Homar's developing an interest in typography and
calligraphy, eventually blending typographic forms with other
visual media. Upon completion of his apprenticeship, he was able to
secure a full-time job with Cartier. Simultaneously, he also took
courses at Pratt Institute in New York.
Homar enlisted in the service during World
War II. He served in
active duty, was wounded in conflict and earned a Purple Heart. The
war left many visual imprints on his conscience and many of them
filtered in his work for decades to come. After completing his
military service, he returned to New York where he resumed his work
at Cartier and began attending classes at the Brooklyn Museum of
Arts. There he received instruction from some of the most
accomplished and talented artists of the period. Among his teachers
were Gabor Peterdi, Arthur Osver, Ben Shahn and the noted Mexican
muralist Rufino Tamayo.
Homar returned
to his native Puerto Rico in 1950, a time of
artistic ferment on the island. His talents were quickly recognized
and his career developed and flourished. In fact, from that moment
on, the works of el Maestro Homar, as he became known, were
celebrated in artistic circles. Within the year, Homar had a first
successful art exhibit at the Puerto Rican Athenaeum, the premier
cultural organization of the time. He also established the Center
for Puerto Rican Arts, an organization that opened opportunities
for Puerto Rican artists by promoting artistic exhibits and
exchanges between Puerto Rico and other countries.
Homar's work for DIVEDCO, the Community
Education Division of
the Puerto Rico Department of Education, was central to his
productivity as an artist and role as teacher. DIVEDCO was
established by the former governor of Puerto Rico Luis Muñoz Marín
in 1949 as an outreach and empowerment tool to provide community
development for disenfranchised Puerto Ricans. The division
developed an aggressive effort to educate by producing and showing
educational films and by distributing educational materials such as
booklets and posters. His first job at the division was as poster
maker and as an illustrator for many of their projects.
Homar became the head of DIVEDCO's graphics
arts department in
1952. He played a significant role promoting and supporting other
artists, helping them to reclaim the richness and uniqueness of
Puerto Rican culture. Under his leadership, DIVEDCO became a major
force in the development of Puerto Rican plastic arts during the
1950s. Homar worked hand by hand with prominent figures such as
writers Pedro Juan Soto and José Luis González, filmmaker and
photographer Jack Delano, and fellow graphic artists Rafael Tufiño
and Isabel Bernal.
Throughout the
1950s, Homar continued a process of rich artistic
production. His artistic engravings of native Puerto Rican images
were widely acclaimed by art critics and collectors. His creations
during that period have become valued collector items and unique
historic testimonials of the legacy of DIVEDCO. His role as a
graphic designer is best exemplified by his masterful
afiches. His colorful posters are filled with rich and
colorful images blended with exquisite engravings and calligraphy.
Homar's ability to capture images and compositions that accurately
represent Puerto Rican history, culture and social realities made
him one of most important figures behind the development of the
poster as a medium of artistic, educational and political
expression.
Homar received a
Guggenheim Fellowship in 1957 that helped him
to continue his creative work and also bolstered his international
visibility. That same year he was asked by the Puerto Rican
government to organize the Graphic Arts Workshop of the Institute
of Puerto Rican Culture. Like DIVEDCO, this served as another major
venue to help develop the talent and visibility of many other
Puerto Rican artists. It also gave him a platform to showcase and
promote his talent. He retired from that position in 1973.
Retirement was far from the end for Homar.
During the 1970s and
1980s he was as productive as ever and exhibited his work around
Latin America, the Caribbean, the United States and Europe. He
designed all of the posters for the 1979 Pan-American Games held in
Puerto Rico, which have become priceless artifacts. His work is in
the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Library
of Congress. In 1978 the Ponce Museum of Art had the first full
retrospective exhibit of his art. In 1987 the University of Puerto
Rico bestowed him with an honorary doctorate in Arts. In September
2001, the Museum of Art at the University of Puerto Rico in Río
Piedras opened the exhibit "Abra Palabra…La Letra Mágica: Carteles
de Lorenzo Homar 1951–1990," exhibiting 150 of Homar's posters from
throughout his career. Curator Dr. Flavia Marichal Lugo said: "The
interesting thing of Homar's posters is that he almost played with
the letters and ordered them to create images full of movement,
rhythm and proportionality. So, he was also a tremendous
calligrapher and typographer. His posters showcase the integration
of text and image and color."
Homar
died on February 16, 2004, in Puerta de Tierra, the same
neighborhood where he was born.
References and
Suggested Readings
Lorenzo Homar Collection 1937–1999, Princeton University
Library.
García Benítez, Mariana. "Lorenzo
Homar,
maestro de las artes gráficas."
García
Cuevas, Eugenio. "Itinerario del Maestro: Homar, mago del
cartel." El Nuevo Día (San Juan), September 9, 2001.
Gaya-Nuño, Juan Antonio. La pintura
puertorriqueña.
Soria: España: Centro de Estudios Sorianos, 1984.
Roylance, Dale. "The Art of Lorenzo Homar." Caligraphy
Review, 11, 1994, 34–37.
Ruiz de
Fischler, Carmen Teresa and Mercedes Trelles. "Lorenzo
Homar." Treasures of Puerto Rican Paintings (Catalogue to an
Arts Exhibit). San Juan: Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, 2000.
378–379.
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