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ANIMUS AND ANIMA (1972)
(Animus en Anima)
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Another fascinating work from 1972 is Johfra’s dual portrait of Ellen and himself, titled Animus and Anima. Each holds the child-like soul of the other in their arms - Johfra’s in a clam shell, Ellen’s in a lotus flower. On Johfra’s chest is the scarabus. And between them appears the yin / yang symbol, where each contains a particle of the other as a circle in its centre. More than that, the two are separate but integrated parts of the greater circle: together they form a higher unity.
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UNIO MYSTICA (1973)
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But the greatest Hermetic work to emerge during the Alpes Maritimes years is undoubtedly his Unio Mystica (1973). A broad triptych measuring more than two metres across, it brings together many of the painterly obsessions which had occupied the artist up to this point in his life. The composition unites a multitude of mythic symbols and their more ancient philosophies onto a single sacred and timeless centre. The triptych became the crowning achievement of a period otherwise marred by struggle and poverty.
(For an analysis of Hermes Trismegistos and Unio Mystica, see the article The Hermetic Johfra.)
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