Gaspar Homar

GASPAR HOMAR MEZQUIDA (Bunyola, Majorca, 1870 - Barcelona, 1953).
Modernist ceiling lamp, ca. 1905.
Gilded cast metal and glass.
A similar lamp by the author is published in "Gaspar Homar moblista i dissenyador del Modernisme", pg. 100, with photographic reproduction.
In very good condition.
Measurements: 90 x 60 x 60 cm.

Ceiling lamp designed by Gaspar Homar, a key piece in the decorative arts of Catalan modernism both for its novel decoration and for the importance of its author. The motif of dragonflies to decorate the lamps responds to the modernist taste of the time, which takes motifs from nature but in a naturalistic way but extracting from them an almost supernatural, magical organicity. So it happens in this lamp formed by four globe lights on which large dragonflies perch in gilded cast metal. The quality of the folds and delicacy of the wings is remarkable. Experimentation is allied here with the craftsman's manual labor. An openwork crown joins the pieces to channel the strands and unite them into a single vertical stem.

A modernist cabinetmaker and decorator, Gaspar Homar began his training at the Escuela de La Lonja, in Barcelona, and then expanded his knowledge in the workshop of the cabinetmaker Francesc Vidal, who had also been his father's teacher. In 1893, only ten years later, 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 participated in exhibitions in London, Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza 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 specialized in modernism, 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, closets and chairs, was very well known. His best known works are the integral 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 Prize, Gold Medal and Grand Cup at the Esposizione Internazionale Industria-Lavoro Arte Decorativa in Venice (1908) and the Grand Prize at the International Exhibition of Modern Comfort in Paris in 1909. Today, pieces of Gaspar Homar's furniture are kept in the National Museum of Art of Catalonia, the Museum of Art Nouveau and Art Deco Casa Lis in Salamanca and the National Museum of Decorative Arts in Madrid, among others.