Who Created The Renowned Tarot Card Deck?

Pamela Colman Smith, also known as “Pixie”, was a British artist, illustrator, writer, publisher, and occultist who created the iconic Rider Waite Tarot deck. She was best known for her design of the 78 classic illustrations used in the deck, which became synonymous with tarot. However, her name is not even mentioned on the deck. With Waite’s guidance, Smith conjured the Major and Minor Arcana and illustrated the Rider-Waite cards, creating what became one of the most famous tarot decks.

For years, the deck was referred to as the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck, giving a nod to publisher William Ridger and Son, while neglecting to credit the artist responsible for the distinctive gouache illustrations. The ability to visualize a tarot card at all is likely due to one man, Stuart R. Kaplan, founder and chairman of U.S. Games Systems, Inc., which has been producing tarot cards since 1910.

A new book delves into the history, importance, and popularity of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck, published in 1910. Pamela Colman Smith was the first woman to design a deck, and her contributions were eclipsed by A.E. Waite, who commissioned her. The set of 78 cards is now on view at the Library of Congress.

Despite her fame in early 20th-century art and spiritual circles, Pamela Colman Smith is rarely credited for her famous tarot deck.

What is the world’s oldest tarot deck?

The Visconti-Sforza Tarot, painted in the mid-15th century for the rulers of the Duchy of Milan, is the oldest surviving tarot cards. In 15th century Italy, the set of cards included in tarot packs, including trumps, was consistent, with two main exceptions. Some late 15th century decks, like the Sola Busca tarot and the Boiardo deck, had four suits, a fool, and 21 trumps, but none of the trumps match tarot ones. The Visconti di Mondrone pack, one of the Visconti-Sforza decks, originally had a Dame and a Maid in each suit, along with the standard King, Queen, Knight, and Jack.

The pack also included three trump cards representing the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity. Despite a Dominican preacher’s criticism of the evil inherent in playing cards, no routine condemnations of tarot were found during its early history.

When was the original tarot deck made?

Tarot decks were invented in Italy in the 1430s, adding a fifth suit of 21 specially illustrated cards called trionfi (“triumphs”) and an odd card called il matto (“the fool”). These cards bore Italian suitmarks and belonged to an experimental period of card design when queens were often added to the series of court cards previously consisting of only a king and two male figures. In standard cards, the four figures were subsequently reduced to three again by suppressing the queen, except in French cards, which suppressed the cavalier (knight).

The trionfi each bore a different allegorical illustration instead of a common suitmark, possibly representing characters in medieval reenactments of Roman triumphal processions. They were originally unnumbered, so it was necessary to remember their order. When added to the pack, trionfi functioned as a suit superior in power to the other four, acting as a suit of triumphs or “trumps”.

What is the most valuable tarot card?

The Fool is a card in tarot games, not part of the Major Arcana. In most games, the Fool is independent of both plain suit cards and trump cards, and does not belong to either category. Tarot decks originally made for game playing do not assign a number to the Fool indicating its rank in the suit of trumps. The Fool is one of the most valuable cards in almost all tarot games.

In tarot games originating from Italy and France, the Fool has a unique role, sometimes called “the Excuse”. In these games, the player excuses the player from following suit or playing a trump. At the end of the trick, the player takes back the Fool and adds it to their trick pile, giving the trick’s winner the least valuable card from that same pile. If there are no cards to give in exchange, the Fool is worth one point less and an extra point is given to the trick-taker.

In a minor variant option of French tarot, a player dealt trump 1 but with no other trumps or the Fool can make trump 1 behave the same as the Fool. In official tournament rules, a player in this situation must declare their hand and force a redeal.

Who was the woman behind the world’s most famous tarot deck was nearly lost in history?

In 1909, Pamela Colman Smith, the creator of the world’s most renowned tarot deck, produced the inaugural deck to feature wholly illustrated, symbolic images. The complete set of 78 cards is currently on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Who illustrated the original Tarot deck?

Pamela Colman Smith, also known as “Pixie”, was a renowned British artist, illustrator, writer, publisher, and occultist. She is best known for her illustrations of the Rider-Waite tarot deck, which became the standard among tarot card readers and remains the most widely used today. Smith also illustrated over 20 books, wrote two collections of Jamaican folklore, edited two magazines, and ran the Green Sheaf Press, a small press focused on women writers.

Born in London, Smith was the only child of a merchant from Brooklyn, New York, and his wife Corinne Colman. They moved to Jamaica when Charles Smith took a job with the West India Improvement Company in 1889. By 1893, Smith moved to Brooklyn and enrolled at the Pratt Institute, where she studied art under Arthur Wesley Dow. Her mature drawing style reflects the visionary qualities of fin-de-siècle Symbolism and the Romanticism of the preceding Arts and Crafts movement.

Smith’s mother died in Jamaica in 1896, and she was ill on and off during this time. She left Pratt in 1897 without a degree. Smith became an illustrator, with her first projects including The Illustrated Verses of William Butler Yeats, a book on actress Dame Ellen Terry by Bram Stoker, and two of her own books, Widdicombe Fair and Fair Vanity.

Who draws the cards in tarot?

Tarot is often used alongside the study of Hermetic Qabalah, with decks illustrating cards in accordance with Qabalistic principles, largely influenced by the Rider-Waite deck. Artist Pamela Colman Smith, under the direction of Arthur Edward Waite, created these decks in 1911. Unlike Marseilles-style decks, Waite and Smith used scenes with esoteric meanings on suit cards, derived from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn group.

These meanings and illustrations reflected the influence of astrology and Qabalistic principles. The Major Trumps, up to and including the Rider-Waite-Smith and Crowley (Thoth) decks, are examples of decks that incorporate these principles.

Who drew the Tarot deck?

Pamela Colman Smith, also known as “Pixie”, was a renowned British artist, illustrator, writer, publisher, and occultist. She is best known for her illustrations of the Rider-Waite tarot deck, which became the standard among tarot card readers and remains the most widely used today. Smith also illustrated over 20 books, wrote two collections of Jamaican folklore, edited two magazines, and ran the Green Sheaf Press, a small press focused on women writers.

Born in London, Smith was the only child of a merchant from Brooklyn, New York, and his wife Corinne Colman. They moved to Jamaica when Charles Smith took a job with the West India Improvement Company in 1889. By 1893, Smith moved to Brooklyn and enrolled at the Pratt Institute, where she studied art under Arthur Wesley Dow. Her mature drawing style reflects the visionary qualities of fin-de-siècle Symbolism and the Romanticism of the preceding Arts and Crafts movement.

Smith’s mother died in Jamaica in 1896, and she was ill on and off during this time. She left Pratt in 1897 without a degree. Smith became an illustrator, with her first projects including The Illustrated Verses of William Butler Yeats, a book on actress Dame Ellen Terry by Bram Stoker, and two of her own books, Widdicombe Fair and Fair Vanity.

Who was the original tarot card artist?

Pamela Colman Smith, also known as “Pixie”, was a renowned British artist, illustrator, writer, publisher, and occultist. She is best known for her illustrations of the Rider-Waite tarot deck, which became the standard among tarot card readers and remains the most widely used today. Smith also illustrated over 20 books, wrote two collections of Jamaican folklore, edited two magazines, and ran the Green Sheaf Press, a small press focused on women writers.

Born in London, Smith was the only child of a merchant from Brooklyn, New York, and his wife Corinne Colman. They moved to Jamaica when Charles Smith took a job with the West India Improvement Company in 1889. By 1893, Smith moved to Brooklyn and enrolled at the Pratt Institute, where she studied art under Arthur Wesley Dow. Her mature drawing style reflects the visionary qualities of fin-de-siècle Symbolism and the Romanticism of the preceding Arts and Crafts movement.

Smith’s mother died in Jamaica in 1896, and she was ill on and off during this time. She left Pratt in 1897 without a degree. Smith became an illustrator, with her first projects including The Illustrated Verses of William Butler Yeats, a book on actress Dame Ellen Terry by Bram Stoker, and two of her own books, Widdicombe Fair and Fair Vanity.

Who drew the tarot cards for Dragon Age Inquisition?

“Judgement” is a digital illustration created by BioWare concept artist Ramil Sunga for Dragon Age Inquisition, featuring Blackwall, a major character from the series. The artwork is part of a set of Tarot-like cards that depict the mythology and lore of the Dragon Age universe. The original print is a hand-numbered limited-edition and artist-signed. Matt Rhodes, lead concept artist of Dragon Age Inquisition, praises Sunga’s talent, stating that his paintings are beautiful, character designs are fascinating, and he is a talented 3D sculptor.

What is the most famous tarot deck?

The Rider Waite Smith Tarot is a popular deck for tarot card reading, first published by the Rider Company in 1909. It was based on the instructions of academic and mystic A. E. Waite and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith, both members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The deck has been published in numerous editions and inspired a wide array of variants and imitations. Over 100 million copies circulate across 20 countries.

The images in the deck are simple but feature abundant symbolism. Some imagery remains similar to earlier decks, but overall, the Waite-Smith card designs are substantially different from their predecessors. Christian imagery was removed from some cards and added to others, such as the “Papess” becoming the “High Priestess” and the “Lovers” card resembling naked Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The Minor Arcana is illustrated with allegorical scenes by Smith, unlike earlier decks.

Symbols and imagery in the deck were influenced by 19th-century magician and occultist Eliphas Levi and the teachings of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. To accommodate astrological correspondences taught by the Golden Dawn, Waite introduced several innovations to the deck, such as changing the order of the Strength and Justice cards to correspond with Leo and Libra, and based the Lovers card on Italian tarot decks.

What religion do tarot cards come from?

This literature review examines the relationship between Tarot cards and New Age religion, emphasizing their function in the contemporary study of the New Age movement.