José María Sicilia

JOSÉ MARÍA SICILIA (Madrid, 1954).
“Manuscript from Sanlúcar de Barrameda VI,” 2002.
Lithograph with varnish, hand-illuminated on Arches paper, print no. 6/15.
Signed, dated, and inscribed by hand.
Measurements: 57.5 x 77 cm; 73.5 x 93 cm (frame).

This work builds on the research conducted by José María Sicilia in the series *Manuscritos de Sanlúcar de Barrameda*, begun in the 1990s, in which he explored the relationships between nature, writing, light, and matter. The title refers to the manuscripts of the commentaries on St. John of the Cross, establishing a dialogue between visual art and the poetic and mystical tradition. The composition features two bees on a surface of amber tones, traversed by a fragment of handwritten-looking text. The combination of lithography, varnish, and manual intervention creates delicate transparencies and luminous effects characteristic of her artistic language. The presence of the insects, linked to the world of wax and its processes of transformation, invites reflection on fragility, time, and nature. The limited edition of fifteen copies and its hand-glazing enhance the appeal of this print.

José María Sicilia is one of the leading figures of the Spanish pictorial renewal of the 1980s. Trained in Madrid, he moved to Paris in 1980, where he developed a style of painting that was initially expressionist but evolved toward an abstraction characterized by great material sensitivity. Beginning in the 1990s, he explored the expressive possibilities of wax, transparencies, and light. In 1989, he received the National Prize for Plastic Arts, and in 2016, the National Prize for Graphic Art. His work is represented in institutions such as the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, MoMA and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.