Puerto Rican Artist, Lorenzo Homar

Exhibition, The Poster in Puerto Rico 1954-1974,1974
I did not head out today for the Puerto Rican Day Parade on Fifth Avenue, instead, I am celebrating Puerto Rican culture with a parade of works by the wildly talented and prolific artist, Lorenzo Homar (1913-2004)

I urge you to read his bio on the AIGA site to really get a idea of his significance in the development of the graphic arts in Puerto Rico and his influence on a generation of artists there. Renowned as a poster designer, Homar’s talents ranged from gymnastics to calligraphy and his biography includes a Purple Heart earned during active duty in WWII, and a full time position in the design department of Cartier.

Princeton University houses an archive of 350 works. In addition to posters are a sketchbook from WWII, jewelry designs for Cartier, and roughs for posters and books. In my last post, “Picturing Coney Island,” the pencil drawing of figures at Muscle Beach was from this archive.

When you look at Homar’s work, you will see evidence of, not only the engraving skills he honed at Cartier, and his interest in sports, but the influence of some quite notable teachers. He studied with George Bridgman at the Art Student’s League during the 1930s, and after the war took classes at the Brooklyn Museum, where his teachers included Ben Shan and Rufino Tamayo.


Ciclistas en el Velodromo, 1976


El deporte como la expressión cultural de un pueblo, 1980


Las Mano Del Hombre (source)


Pablo Casals, 1955


Festival Casals de Puerto Rico, Cuadragésimo Aniversario 1957-1996, 1996


Gestalt I, 1971


Two typographic posters (source)

Fotografías de Carlos Guzmán, Galería Coabey, 1980

Segunda bienal de grabado Lantinoamericano en San Juan Puerto Rico - auspiciada por el Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 1972

Domingo García 2exposiciones, Óleos Museo U.P.R., dibujos La Casa del Arte, 1964

Domingo García en Palomas, 1984


Que libro raro, La Casa del Libro, 1966


Campeonato mundíal gimnasia, Puerto Rico, 1996,
1995


The two drawings above are from Homar's sketchbook from his army days in the Philippines during World War II.


Arthur Buckley, Boston, 1944


Cartier jewelry designs, 1937

Studies for Festival Casals posters, 1957

Very bizarre gouache illustration from 1970, titled Más inglés, muchachos, más inglés!d

Japan's Devastating Earthquake, 1923

Nyosen Hamada, Chased by the Fire, Drowned in the Water

The clothing was different, and there were horses being tossed, instead of cars, but the horror was eerily identical. The fires, the death, the leveled landscape, the injured, the homeless. Over 100,000 people died in the Kanto earthquake of 1923 and the tsunami and fires that followed. So much of Tokyo was destroyed, that the government considered moving the capital elsewhere.

I really didn't think that an art form as stylized and classical as a Japanese print, could come close to matching the power of the camera for a disaster of this magnitude. How wrong I was. Take a look at the faces, the gestures, the postures. After seeing the recent footage from Japan, these prints take on a reality that chilling.

This remarkable work of visual journalism was published in 1926 as a suite of 25 prints by nine artists, many of whom lost much in the earthquake. Each scene conveys a different facet of the anguish, terror and despair suffered by so many. The images and information here are from the site of print dealer, Artelino, where there is lots more to read about these prints and Japanese prints in general.

Apparently a full set of "Taisho Shinsai Gashu" (Pictures of Taisho Earthquake)" is quite rare, and this is where the tiny glimmer of hope is to be found. Far outweighing these scenes of devastation is the abundance of prints that recorded the rebuilding of Tokyo as a modern metropolis.

Nyosen Hamada, Tragedy of Horses

Shiun Kondo, The Tsunami Attacks at Suji Kotsubo after the Earthquake

Shiun Kondo, The Train Wreck around Oiso

Hakuhan Yawata, Around Gofukubashi Bridge on this Night

Unpo Takashima, Around Ueno


Unpo Takashima, Honjo


Kouyou Shibata, Around Fukagawa


Shiun Kondo, Mansei Bridge
Martial law was declared by the government after the earthquake, while order and essential services were restored. This is a police station on Mansei bridge.


Senrin Kirigaya, Burnt Ruins of Ginza Street
Ginza Street was a fashionable shopping district.


Kougai Noguchi, Nakabashi Hirokoji District


Kougai Noguchi, Narihira Tram Street
With a flattened landscape in the distance, a man operates a commuter wagon where street cars used to run.


Sengai Igawa, Refuge at Asakusa Kannon
I wonder if the flyers attached to the tree are for missing loved ones?

I'm tacking on these two prints (not from the series), of the raging fires.

This scene is by Kitazawa Rakuten, who is considered the father of Japanese manga. (via Three Steps Over Japan)

Fire near Asakusa Park. Animals from a show are on the loose and a twelve story building is destroyed. (via Vangobot)