Helena Almeida: 'Seduzir' [To Seduce, 2002] (detail)

Collection

La higuera [The Fig Tree]

Image caption
FRANCISCO LÓPEZ HERNÁNDEZ

La higuera [The Fig Tree]

  • 1984
  • Relief in bronze
  • 366 x 177 cm
  • Cat. E_58
  • Comissioned from the artist in 1983
  • Observations: Installed at the Banco de España regional headquarters in Cadiz in 1986. When the office closed down, the work was moved to the Bank's central headquarters in Madrid.
By:
Isabel Tejeda

The Banco de España Collection has a fairly representative sample of the output of Madrid-born sculptor Francisco López Hernández and including works ranging from the outset of his career in the 1960s, when he began to work on commissions from major Spanish institutions, almost up to the present day. They include plaques in high and low relief, and works that reveal him to be not just a great sculptor but an exceptional sketch artist. López Hernández follows tradition in his choice of disciplines and materials (mainly bronze, terracotta and plaster) and in the use of genres marked by the French Academy in the 18th century. That includes still-lifes and landscapes. His realistic style brings a contemporary feel to his work. His is not the sculpture or painting of a passing moment, but of a build-up of time and emotions: these are works where there are no human beings but humans have left their mark, so their omission creates a strong impression of containment and silence and an idea of eternity. The Quince Tree (1983-1986) is a high-relief follows the Baroque tradition of vanitas, in an allegory of death; but the objects that accompany the fruits (a bag, a chain with a pendant) are contemporary and place the scene in the here and now.

López Férnandez is a master of bas-relief. He learned the technique at his father's workshop and developed it in a long, distinguished career as a designer of medals. In 1983 the Banco de España commissioned him to produce bronzes to mark the opening of the bank's headquarters in Cadiz. He chose to depict two trees (a quince tree and a fig tree) as symbols of life and plenty: in their simplicity, their detail and the absence of any background, these trees recall the paintings of Pompeii, with which the artist was familiar. The Garden (1970) is another landscape, in this case an urban oasis whose high wall indicates that the hidden spot at the rear is a private place.

Window at Night (1972) is a detailed, melancholy, intimate drawing that shows great virtuosity as it marks the contrast between the artificially lit interior and the silence of the night. The window is the frontier between the intimate and the exterior. It recalls interiors by 18th century Dutch painters and, like paintings by other artists in his generation, places the viewer in the protected, indoor space.

Isabel Tejeda

 
By:
Isabel Tejeda
Francisco López Hernández
Madrid 1932 - Madrid 2017

Francisco López Hernández came from a family of artists: his father was an engraver and silversmith, his brother Julio is a sculptor; his wife Isabel Quintanilla is a painter and so is his son Francisco López Quintanilla (some of whose works are also in the Banco de España Collection). He studied sculpture under José Capuz at the School of Arts and Crafts of Madrid and attended the Academy of San Fernando. He also obtained grants from the Ministry of Education in 1956 to study in Greece and Rome. In 1960 he secured a subsidy that enabled him to maintain a residency at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome for several years. In 1968 he began to work as a lecturer in Medal Art at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Madrid. He obtained a PhD in Fine Arts in 1988. Over the years he forged close artistic and personal relations with other realist artists of his generation such as Antonio López, María Moreno, Julio López Hernández, Amalia Avia, Esperanza Parada and Isabel Quintanilla. Together, they made up what Almudena Armenta refers to as the 'Madrid Group' and others as the 'Madrid Realists'.

López Hernández produced sculptures for major official buildings, including Ophelia Drowned (Barcelona, 1964), reliefs for the Faculty of Philosophy of the Complutense University in Madrid (1965), plaques for the façade of the Bankinter building on Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid (1976), a monument to Isidoro Macabich (Ibiza, 1980), reliefs for the Banco de España headquarters building in Cadiz (1983), work on the Telefónica central headquarters building on Gran Vía in Madrid (1984), a monument to Enrique Tierno Galván (Madrid, 1988), Monument to Premier Aguirre (Bilbao, 2004) and Portrait of Pablo Picasso (Malaga, 2008) among others.

His work has appeared in group exhibitions at the Ateneo in Madrid (1957), the Rodríguez-Acosta Foundation (Granada, 1959), the Spanish Academy of Fine Arts in Rome (1966), the Kunstverein Hannover (Hanover, Germany, 1974), Documenta 6 (Kassel, Germany, 1977), the Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (Germany, 1976), the Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid, 1987), the Marcelino Botín Foundation (Santander, 1992), the Esteban Vicente Museum (Segovia, 2003) and the Thyssen- Bornemisza (Madrid, 2016), among others. Major solo exhibitions include those at the Buchholz (Munich) and Meyer Ellinger (Frankfurt) in Germany 1970, where his work began to achieve international renown, and a show at the Conde Duque Cultural Centre (Madrid, 1996).

Isabel Tejeda

 
«Francisco López. An Anthology», Centro Cultural Conde Duque (Madrid, 1996). «From Reality: 4 Contemporary Spanish Artists», Academia Española de Historia, Arqueología y Bellas Artes de Roma (Rome, 1996). «50 Years of Spanish Sculpture», Jardins Du Palais Royal (Paris, 2001). «50 Years of Spanish Sculpture», Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. MNCARS (Madrid, 2001).
Vv.Aa. Francisco López. Exposición Antológica, Madrid, Centro Cultural Conde Duque, 1996. Vv.Aa. Desde la realidad. Cuatro artistas españoles contemporáneos / Dalla realtà. Quattro Artisti Spagnoli Contemporanei, Rome, Academia Española de Historia, Arqueología y Bellas Artes, 1996. Vv.Aa. Colección Banco de España. Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Banco de España, 2019, vol. 3.