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SELF-PORTRAIT AS A FAUN
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Rather than the esoteric symbols of Hermeticism, it was the elementals of Pantheism that fascinated Johfra now - the woodsprites and water nymphs that inhabited nature. A series of elf pictures by Johfra, Ellen, and Carjan were collected in the book Elves, Fairies and Gnomes.
Landscape became increasingly important, as Johfra investigated the play of light and atmosphere over earth, air, fire, and water. Some of the landscapes became complex allegories, populated by hundreds of minute, accurately rendered figures. The fountains of Rome which he had sketched with Diana thirty years ago became the subject of a large series of paintings.
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ELLEN LORIEN AND JOHFRA
with Yeti and Bianca
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It was particularly the movement of water and its transparency to light that fascinated the artist. Many of these works were exhibited in Holland at Galerie Utrecht run by Eric Morren and Severine van Garderen.
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MATURITY
1983 - 1998
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In 1985, the French Minister of Culture awarded Johfra and Ellen with the distinction of the 'Société Arts-Sciences-Lettres'. Four years later, in 1989, Johfra was named a ‘Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres’ - a rare distinction indeed, particularly for a non-French subject.
During all this time, Diana Vandenberg continued to paint, garnering much recognition in Holland for her Hermetic works and portraiture. Several of her students also went on to become well-known. In 1997, she died at the age of 74.
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