Lorenzo Homar Gelabert (September 10, 1913 – February 16, 2004) was a Puerto Rican printmaker, painter, and calligrapher whose artwork stretches to three main workshops: (CPA), DIVEDCO (), and the of the (ICP). Homar was also the designer of the logo of the (

Institute of Puerto Rican Culture The Institute of Puerto Rican Culture ( es, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña), or ICP, for short, is an institution of the Government of Puerto Rico responsible for the establishment of the cultural policies required in order to study, preser ...

Early years

Lorenzo Homar was born in 1913 in

Barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residenti ...

Puerta de Tierra Puerta de Tierra is a ''subbarrio'' (subdistrict) occupying the eastern portion of the Islet of San Juan and the ''barrio'' of San Juan Antiguo in the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The name Puerta de Tierra (Spanish for ''land gate'') d ...

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...

. His father, Lorenzo Homar Sr., was a film promoter and his mother, Margarita Gelabert, a pianist. Although he attended grammar school in San Juan, in 1928 due to financial difficulties, his family is forced to move to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Because of the financial situation of his family, Homar did not finish his high school education and went to work in a textile factory. In 1931, he attended New York's

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school at American Fine Arts Society, 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists ...

where he learned the art of drawing under the guidance of

George Bridgman George Brant Bridgman (November 5, 1864 – December 16, 1943) was a Canadian-American painter, writer, and teacher in the fields of anatomy and figure drawing. Bridgman taught anatomy for artists at the Art Students League of New York for some ...

.Biogarfia de Loenzo Homar
/ref>
/ref>Princeton University
/ref> Homar joined the House of Cartier in 1936 in New York as an apprentice designer of jewelry. During this period of his life he studied engraving, drawing and history of design. Furthermore, the income from his position at Cartier allowed Homar to take night classes in painting, design and typography at

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

World War II

When the United States entered World War II, Homar joined the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

. He participated in the Pacific Campaign and was wounded in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

for which he received the

Purple Heart Medal The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, w ...

. Homar then served in an Army Intelligence Unit where he learned cartography while working for the Second Amphibious Combat Engineers Brigade. He also published military sketches in numerous American journals. When he returned from the war, he enrolled in the School of the

Brooklyn Museum of Art The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

in 1946. While there, he was able to meet and learn from such artists as

Ben Shahn Ben Shahn (September 12, 1898 – March 14, 1969) was an American artist. He is best known for his works of social realism, his left-wing political views, and his series of lectures published as ''The Shape of Content''. Biography Shahn was born ...

Rufino Tamayo Rufino del Carmen Arellanes Tamayo (August 25, 1899 – June 24, 1991) was a Mexican painter of Zapotec heritage, born in Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico.Sullivan, 170-171Ades, 357 Tamayo was active in the mid-20th century in Mexico and New York, ...

and Gabor Peterdi.

Early Career in Puerto Rico

Homar returned to Puerto Rico in 1950, where together with other artists, such as

Rafael Tufiño Rafael Tufiño Figueroa (October 30, 1922 – March 13, 2008) was a Puerto Rican painter, printmaker and cultural figure in Puerto Rico, known locally as the "Painter of the People". Early life Rafael Tufiño Figueroa was born on October 30, ...

, Felix Rodriguez Baez, Julio Rosado del Valle and

René Marqués René Marqués (October 4, 1919 – March 22, 1979) was a Puerto Rican short story writer and playwright. Early years Marqués was born, raised and educated in the city of Arecibo. He developed an interest in writing at a young age and was p ...

, he co-founded the " Centro de Arte Puertorriqueño" (Puerto Rican Arts Center, or CAP). He was later named the director of the Graphics Studio of the Graphic Art Division of Puerto Rico's Department of Community Education (DivEdCo). This is when he created most of his works of art. Homar designed the logo of the "Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña " (

) known as the ICP, and he also established the Institute's Graphic Arts Workshop. During the decade of the 1960s Homar began use the techniques of graphic printmaking, particularly in silkscreen. In 1975, he established his own printing studio, and among his many works are the posters he designed in 1979, for the VIII Pan American Games.

Honors and recognitions

Homar's works were exhibited in the

Ponce Museum of Art Museo de Arte de Ponce (MAP) is an art museum located on Avenida Las Américas in Ponce, Puerto Rico.Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Tourism Company. Ven al Sur, page 20. San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2003. It houses a collection of European a ...

in 1979. The

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

purchased some of his works. The

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...

proclaimed him a Doctorate "Honoris Causa" and the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture presented him with the National Medal of Honor in 2003.

Military awards and recognitions

Among Homar's military decorations and medals were the following: * Purple Heart ribbon

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, w ...

Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two Bronze Service Stars * World War II Victory Medal ribbon

World War II Victory Medal The World War II Victory Medal is a service medal of the United States military which was established by an Act of Congress on 6 July 1945 (Public Law 135, 79th Congress) and promulgated by Section V, War Department Bulletin 12, 1945. The Wor ...

Philippine Liberation Medal The Philippine Liberation Medal is a military award of the Republic of the Philippines which was created by an order of Commonwealth Army of the Philippines Headquarters on 20 December 1944, and was issued as the Philippine Liberation Ribbon. The d ...

Later years

On February 16, 2004, Lorenzo Homar died in Barrio Puerta de Tierra in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Homar, Lorenzo 1913 births 2004 deaths Puerto Rican painters Puerto Rican Army personnel United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army soldiers People from San Juan, Puerto Rico 20th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American male artists