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VISIONARY REVUE
And I remember that first glance. In the window
of a bookshop on Yonge Street, I stopped to admire a
poster of The Water Bearer from the Zodiac. The
image intrigued me, drew me in, and I searched out
the name of the artist - Johfra. The year was 1978,
and I was still a teenager then, living in Toronto.
Over the years, more works by Johfra captured my
gaze and demanded its attention. In an Esoteric
Bookshop in Munich, I found his little Astrology
book, with all 12 signs of the Zodiac explained by the
artist. In Paris, I acquired a poster of his Unio
Mystica. Alone in my studio, I dedicated an evening
to meditating on its images - entering through their
rich symbolism to the Sacred they invoke.
Finally, I decided to make contact with the artist
himself, to learn more about his work, his ideas. But -
too late - Johfra died a few years ago. Still, the
invitation came from Ellen Lorien to visit their home
in Dordogne. And that is how I found myself alone in
his studio, attempting to see it all through his eyes,
and engaging him in silent conversation. Though
dead, he still has so much to tell me.
So, from his autobiography Symphonie
Fantastique and from conversations with people who
knew him, I’m now piecing together a brief account
of Johfra’s life. Reading the Dutch texts is like
looking through a dusty window - I can just make out
the shapes and their meaning. It is the same with my
understanding of his life - a life too rich to be
contained even in his numerous journals, sketchbooks
and canvases. The most I can offer here is a
silhouette - a brief outline of a rich and eventful
existence.
L. Caruana
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HOME EDITORIAL JOHFRA:
THE LIFE
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PARIS - SPRING 2003
YOUTH AND ACADEMY YEARS
The artist signed his works Johfra an acrostic of
his full name, FRAnciscus JOHannes Gijsbertus
van den Berg. At times, he added the name
Bosschart to his paintings, taken from his mother’s
maiden name. With the sun in Sagittarius and
Aquarius ascendent, Johfra was born on Dec 15,
1919 in Rotterdam.
According to his second wife, Ellen Lórien, “He
was a dreamer as a child, very contemplative, who
had difficulty concentrating in school. As opposed to
his algebra lessons, he prefered to observe the minute
patterns manifest in stones, roots, and the bark of
trees. Clouds fascinated him especially, as he'd search
them for faces and the play of light and shadow.”
A talent for drawing manifest itself very early,
and was recognized by the Royal Acadamy of Arts
in the Hague when they accepted him, as an
exceptional case, at the age of fourteen.
In fact, he gained little from the lectures and
spent most of his time studying copies of antiquity
from the collection in the cellars of the academy.
Particularly the works of Da Vinci and
Michelangelo appealed to him, and these masters
remained a source of inspiration throughout his life.
However, a certain professor Meier introduced
Johfra to Max Doerner’s classic work, The Materials
of the Artist, and this book revealed to him the
methods of the old masters. While at the academy,
he began applying these methods.
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JOHFRA: HERMETIC PANTHEIST
THE WORKS JOHFRA JOHFRA
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