Gaspar Homar

GASPAR HOMAR MEZQUIDA (Bunyola, Majorca, 1870 - Barcelona, 1953).
Modernist ceiling lamp, ca. 1910.
Copper with ornaments and glass tubes.
Published in "Gaspar Homar moblista i dissenyador del Modernisme", pg. 100, with photographic reproduction.
In very good condition.
Measurements: 150 x 80 x 80 cm.
Ceiling lamp designed by Gaspar Homar, piece catalogued and reproduced in the monograph on the modernist author. The structure is made up of a central rosette and a border formed by five lights with a crown of brass openwork with serpentine coup-de-fuet and decorated with cabochons of rhinestones. Fine crystal pieces dangle like stalactites in each of the lights, including the central one. So that its zenithal vision offers the image of an attractive corolla. The upper part integrates an openwork dome combined with emerald-colored glass. It is a key piece in the decorative arts of Catalan modernism both for its innovative decoration and for the importance of its author. It shows a very careful finish, which evokes the manual work of the craftsman.
A modernist cabinetmaker and decorator, Gaspar Homar began his training at the Escuela de La Lonja, in Barcelona, to later broaden 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.