José Luis Núñez de la Peña

José Luis Núñez de la Peña

  • 1983
  • Relief in patinated bronze
  • 49,5 x 42 x 3 cm
  • Cat. E_55
  • Comissioned from the artist in 1983
By:
Isabel Tejeda

La escultora Consuelo de la Cuadra González-Meneses llevó a cabo en 1983 el encargo de realizar un bajo relieve en bronce con la efigie de un trabajador relevante del Banco de España, José Luis Núñez de la Peña, un funcionario que ingresó en la institución tras la Guerra Civil en 1942 y que llegó a ser nombrado subdirector general en 1973. Se da la circunstancia de que el encargo se produjo al poco tiempo de fallecido don José Luis.

Dos textos en la parte superior e inferior de la placa que alberga la efigie dan fe de a quién se representa y por qué. Para ello se sigue una fórmula clásica: las inscripciones, al tiempo que describen, orlan al retratado siguiendo la tradición de la medallística. «Don José Luis Núñez de la Peña 1920-1982», dice la leyenda de la parte superior, mientras que en la inferior se da cuenta del sincero agradecimiento y homenaje que le rinde la centenaria entidad: «El Banco de España en recuerdo de sus servicios». La decisión de que la pieza sea de medio formato y casi cuadrada parece indicar que se hubiera diseñado y pensado para ser integrada en un muro, y que la arquitectura del propio edificio financiero fuera finalmente el soporte que enmarcara el relieve. La elección de la escultora y profesora de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid para producir este bajo relieve se debe a su amplio conocimiento técnico de la numismática, ya que Consuelo de la Cuadra ha llevado a cabo diferentes encargos de ediciones de medallas para distintas instituciones públicas y privadas. 

La obra tiene dos partes que se conectan: en primer término un bodegón y en segundo plano un retrato. El subdirector del Banco aparece representado trabajando en su oficina de la entidad, sentado tras su escritorio, con gafas y vestido con traje de chaqueta y corbata. Los atributos que de forma tradicional le acompañan y que conforman el bodegón son útiles de trabajo modernos, un teléfono analógico que asoma en la parte izquierda de la obra y, sobre la mesa, un informe abierto que Núñez de la Peña parece estar revisando cuando le sorprende nuestra visita. La mesa situada en primer término es, de hecho, un recurso que desde el Barroco sirve como elemento para conectar el espacio de lo contingente con el de la representación al situarse en el límite entre la efigie del retratado y los espectadores. Pensemos, por ejemplo, en el Cesto con frutas de Caravaggio, en el que el pintor italiano coloca el cesto ostensiblemente al borde de un alféizar, una cornisa o una mesa para dar sensación tanto de instantaneidad como de tiempo suspendido.

La escultora decide representar al subdirector en el preciso momento en el que ha abandonado por un instante el trabajo para mirar hacia el espectador mientras sonríe suavemente. Puede ser que esté a punto de saludar a alguien que entra en su despacho, a nosotros mismos o a la propia escultora. Otros accesorios le sirven a Consuelo de la Cuadra para generar un bodegón contemporáneo, elementos de escribanía que incluye con un cierto escorzo escasamente forzado para poder ofrecer la suficiente sensación de profundidad teniendo en cuenta que la autora se va a servir de la disciplina clásica del bajo relieve; así, encontramos en primer término un cenicero vacío, un portalápices donde parecen haberse depositado bolígrafos y plumas, un portaplumas vacío y un calendario de escritorio de bloque, de los que se pasaban con anillas hoja a hoja, día a día. La suave pátina marrón con la que se ha rematado esta placa de bronce ayuda a acentuar la sensación de profundidad al generar delicados juegos de luces y sombras.

Isabel Tejeda

 
By:
BDE Banco de España
Consuelo de la Cuadra
Madrid 1955

Consuelo de la Cuadra is a sculptor whose work explores the link between art and science. She also works in numismatics and in small-format pieces. She holds a degree in Psychology and a PhD in Fine Arts from the Complutense University in Madrid, where she is currently a tenured lecturer in the Department of Sculpture, specialising in modelling from life, reliefs and small-format work. She has also worked as the coordinator of the Multi-disciplinary Master's Degree in Art, Creation and Research. Her investigative work seeks to establish links between today's art and science. With that in mind, she set up a group called ACN (a Spanish acronym standing for Art, Science and Nature).

She has worked with several architects in the development of public works: with Rafael Moneo on the doors of the National Museum of Roman Art in Mérida and the façade of the Previsión Española building in Seville; with Dionisio Hernández on reproductions of Roman sculptures at the Roman theatre in Mérida; and with Manuel Manzano Monix on recreating the sculptures and restoring the San Cayetano chapel in Madrid.

In the field of numismatics, she has produced several series of medals for universities and other institutions, including a relief for the Banco de España. In small-format work, she has been involved in international events in New York, Sofia and the Polish city of Torun.

She has taken part in a number of exhibitions, including mainly 'Ars Herbaria' at the Botanical Gardens in Madrid (2015), 'BOTANyCA', also at the Botanical Gardens in Madrid (2012) and the Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos (2012), and 'Zoologías' at the C arte C Gallery in Madrid (2013).

BDE Banco de España

 
By:
Susana Núñez
José Luis Núñez de la Peña (Briviesca, Burgos 1920 - Madrid 1982)
Deputy Director General of the Banco de España 1973 - 1982

José Luis Nuñez de la Peña was a professor of commerce and a chartered account auditor. He rounded out his education with self-taught expertise throughout his life, particularly in his younger years, when he underwent considerable hardship as a war orphan. He was considered to be an excellent accountant and to have a profound knowledge of the financial system and of mercantile law, especially banking legislation.

He joined the Badajoz branch of the Banco de España in 1942 and, with the exception of a brief period in Huelva, remained there until he received the call in 1963 to move to Madrid. In the wake of the reforms implemented under Royal Decree 18/1962 on the nationalisation and reorganisation of the Banco de España, he was given a remit that included, among other things, the tasks of handling discipline and control of private banking; in 1970 he was appointed as Head of the Private Banking Inspectorate, and in 1973 he became Deputy Director General, with responsibility for the Bank's three inspectorates.

He remained in that post until his death in 1982, which meant that he had to deal with a very tough period of political transition, against an economic background that was very little help and with an expanding banking sector. The absence of a proper legal framework to provide the necessary tools greatly hampered the supervisory role of the Banco de España in regard to the creation and control of new banks. The banking crisis that followed can be attributed at least in part to these reasons. During that crisis steps were taken to provide the necessary basis in law in regard to the financial authorities, and a number of measures were taken.

He was behind many of those measures, and wrote most of the circulars sent out to credit institutions. These included what became known in the financial community as the 'pastoral letters', given their scale and level of innovation in setting up the first prudence-based accounting system, aimed at rehabilitating the banking sector. He was the Bank's representative at Corporación Bancaria, S.A., the organisation set up to administer and restructure banks in crisis, and on the Management Committee of the Fondo de Garantía en Establecimientos Bancarios ['Banking Establishment Guarantee Fund'].

He was a tireless worker, whom Bank Governor José Ramón Álvarez-Rendueles described in an Executive Board meeting as 'devoting his whole life to the service of the Bank, setting an example of integrity, professional rigour and wakefulness in fulfilling all those tasks allocated to him'. The José Luis Nuñez de la Peña Research Scholarships were set up to honour his memory and acknowledge his work. They cover the areas of economics, law and accounting at depositary institutions (as per a resolution of the Executive Board dated 13 April 1982). The bronze relief with which this note is associated was commissioned at the same time.

Susana Núñez

 
 
Vv.Aa. Colección Banco de España. Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Banco de España, 2019, vol. 1.