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Difference between revisions of "Pamela Colman Smith"
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===Early career=== | ===Early career=== | ||
While Smith was in art school, her mother died in Jamaica, in 1896. Smith herself was ill on and off during these years and in the end left Pratt in 1897 without a degree. She became an illustrator; some of her first projects included ''The Illustrated Verses of William Butler Yeats'', a book on the actress Ellen Terry by | While Smith was in art school, her mother died in Jamaica, in 1896. Smith herself was ill on and off during these years and in the end left Pratt in 1897 without a degree. She became an illustrator; some of her first projects included ''The Illustrated Verses of William Butler Yeats'', a book on the actress Ellen Terry by Bram Stoker, and two of her own books, Widdicombe Fair and Fair Vanity (a reference to Vanity Fair). | ||
In 1899 her father died, leaving Smith at the age of 21 without either parent. She returned to England that year, continuing to work as an illustrator, and branching out into theatrical design for a miniature theatre. In London, she was taken under the wing of the Lyceum Theatre group led by Ellen Terry (who is said to have given her the nickname "Pixie"), Henry Irving, and Bram Stoker and traveled with them around the country, working on costumes and stage design. In 1901, she established a studio in London and held a weekly open house for artists, authors, actors, and others involved with the arts. Arthur Ransome, then in his early 20s, describes one of these "at home" evenings, and the curious artistic circle around Smith, in his 1907 Bohemia in London. | In 1899 her father died, leaving Smith at the age of 21 without either parent. She returned to England that year, continuing to work as an illustrator, and branching out into theatrical design for a miniature theatre. In London, she was taken under the wing of the Lyceum Theatre group led by Ellen Terry (who is said to have given her the nickname "Pixie"), Henry Irving, and Bram Stoker and traveled with them around the country, working on costumes and stage design. In 1901, she established a studio in London and held a weekly open house for artists, authors, actors, and others involved with the arts. Arthur Ransome, then in his early 20s, describes one of these "at home" evenings, and the curious artistic circle around Smith, in his 1907 Bohemia in London. | ||
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==The Rider-Waite Tarot== | ==The Rider-Waite Tarot== | ||
[[File:Rider-Waite Magician.png|300px|thumb|The Magician Card - original black and white version drawn by Pamela Coleman Smith]] | [[File:Rider-Waite Magician.png|300px|thumb|The Magician Card - original black and white version drawn by Pamela Coleman Smith]] | ||
The 78 illustrations that make up the [[Rider- | The 78 illustrations that make up the [[Rider-Waite Tarot]] deck "represent archetypal subjects that each become a portal to an invisible realm of signs and symbols, believed to be channeled through processes of divination." They are original works of art and unique in terms of the cards' stylization, draftsmanship, and composition, which is a significant aesthetic achievement. They are one of the best examples of Smith's jaw-dropping imagination for fantasy, folly, ecstasy, death, and the macabre. | ||
When Smith's tarot was first published by Rider, in England, in December 1909, it was simply called ''Tarot Cards'' and it was accompanied by Arthur Edward Waite's guide entitled ''[[The Key to the Tarot]]''. The following year Waite added Smith's black-and-white drawings to the book and published it as ''The Pictorial Key to the Tarot''. In 1971, U.S. Games bought the right to publish the deck and published it under the title The Rider Tarot Deck (because of differences in U.S. and U.K. copyright law, the extent of their copyright in the Waite–Smith deck is disputed). In later editions they changed the name to Rider Tarot and then Rider Waite Tarot. Today most scholars, in order to recognize the importance of Smith's contribution, refer to the deck as the Waite–Smith Tarot. Tarot writers often refer to the deck with the simple abbreviation of RWS, for Rider–Waite–Smith. | When Smith's tarot was first published by Rider, in England, in December 1909, it was simply called ''Tarot Cards'' and it was accompanied by Arthur Edward Waite's guide entitled ''[[The Key to the Tarot]]''. The following year Waite added Smith's black-and-white drawings to the book and published it as ''The Pictorial Key to the Tarot''. In 1971, U.S. Games bought the right to publish the deck and published it under the title The Rider Tarot Deck (because of differences in U.S. and U.K. copyright law, the extent of their copyright in the Waite–Smith deck is disputed). In later editions they changed the name to Rider Tarot and then Rider Waite Tarot. Today most scholars, in order to recognize the importance of Smith's contribution, refer to the deck as the Waite–Smith Tarot. Tarot writers often refer to the deck with the simple abbreviation of RWS, for Rider–Waite–Smith. | ||
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[[Category:Authors]] | [[Category:Authors]] | ||
[[Category:People]] | [[Category:People]] | ||
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