Gaspar Homar

GASPAR HOMAR MEZQUIDA (Bunyola, Mallorca, 1870 - Barcelona, 1953).
Hornacina. Ca. 1905.
Carved and gilded walnut wood.
Measurements: 105 x 55 x 23 cm .
Modernist niche designed by the cabinetmaker Gaspar Homar, made of walnut wood carved to the author's taste and decorated with gilded ornaments. Homar incorporated in his first projects one of the modernist signs par excellence, the "coup de fouet", represented by the fleur-de-lis with a sinuous stem, together with mechanistic features such as the cogwheel and Gothic reminiscences. The niches were designed to be hung on the wall and the image of a saint placed inside them on a shelf.
A modernist cabinetmaker and decorator, Gaspar Homar began his training at the Escuela de La Lonja in Barcelona, and then furthered his knowledge in the workshop of the cabinetmaker Francesc Vidal, who had also been his father's teacher. In 1893, just ten years later, they both opened their own establishment in Barcelona, under the name of P. Homar e Hijo. Two years later his father died, leaving Gaspar in charge of the workshop. Throughout his fruitful career he took part in exhibitions in London, Madrid, Barcelona, Saragossa and Paris, and was a member of the jury of the 1908 Venice International. Homar began his style within the neo-Gothic trend but soon specialised in Modernisme, a style in which he produced his best works until 1918, later devoting himself to the production of conventional furniture. During these years he collaborated with Sebastià Junyent, Joan Carreres and Josep Pey Farriol in the design of furniture and complete rooms, with an exquisite richness of design, figurative marquetry in soffits and furniture which are his hallmark, etc. He incorporated exotic woods such as sycamore, banana, mahogany and rosewood. His production of ornamental furniture (chests, umbrella stands, etc.) as well as beds, wardrobes and chairs was well known. His best known works are the complete decoration of the Lleó-Morera (1904), Navàs and Burés houses, as well as several buildings by Gaudí and Doménech i Montaner. He also won, among other awards, the Grand Prize for Furniture and Decoration at the London Exhibition of 1907, the Grand Prix, Gold Medal and the Gold Medal at the London Exhibition of 1907.
This lot can be seen in the SetdartBarcelona Gallery at C/Aragón, 346.