Born in San Juan, PR, in 1913, engraver, painter, and printmaker Lorenzo Homar studied at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn Museum's School of Art, and Art Students League, all in NY. He worked as a jewelry designer for House of Cartier, and was a founding member of Centro de Arte Puertorriqueño. From 1952-57, he was director of graphic workshops of División de Educación a la Comunidad, San Juan, PR, and Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña from 1957-73, which developed into a resource for discovering young talent.

Homar, born to Spanish parents, was born in Puerta de Tierra, in San Juan. His father was a social events promoter, and his mother an accomplished piano player, thus from a very early age he began to appreciate art in many forms.

In 1928 he moves to New York city with his family. He enrolls in school, but then drops out due to economic reasons. He then starts working in a textile factory.

During World War II he enrolls in the army, where he is wounded. He then returns to work for Cartier and starts going to the Brooklyn School of Art.

Among his many honors is a first prize for historical painting from Instituto De Cultura Puertorriqueña, 1957; and first prize from Bienal de ilustraciones de Libros de Niños, Czechoslovakia. Homar died on February 2004.

From the Grove Art Dictionary:

"Homar is credited as the artist most responsible for promoting printmaking in Puerto Rico. He trained other important artists, such as Antonio Martorell, José Rosa and Myrna Báez, and ran workshops at Cali in Colombia and in Havana, Cuba, helping to extend his influence further afield in Latin America. While serving as director of the graphic workshop of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, the most important in Puerto Rico, from 1957 to 1970, he produced more than 500 posters and several portfolios of screenprints, such as Casals Portfolio (1970), which were admired for their distinctive style and sophisticated technique. As many as 30 to 40 manual runs were used in the making of each poster, which were characterized also by an expressive use of typography and textures.

Screenprinted posters, woodcuts, engravings, political cartoons, book illustrations, logos and stage designs all feature in Homar’s prolific production. From 1964 to 1972 he produced a series of monumental woodcuts in which he combined political or poetic texts with highly evocative images and expressive rhythmic incisions. Assimilating aspects of American Realism and German Expressionism, he also continued producing paintings on social realist themes rendered in a neat, meticulous style that suggests a printmaker’s rigour and precision."1

Mari Carmen Ramírez: "Homar, Lorenzo" Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press, 23 March 2005, http://www.groveart.com/