Restoring A Classic

Hi All-

I am in the process of doing a restoration of a classic deck: the Jean Payen Tarot of 1743. It is a very slow process, and I've reached a bit of a point where I need to "cool off" to gain some perspective before applying changes to the rest of hte deck.

The goal is to bring the deck to life by cleaning it up a bit, but I want to be careful not to clean it up too much, as I think that the sloppiness of the old decks is part of what gives them their charm.

I have a card to share, and then I'd like to solicit input about a couple questions.

Here are links to one card: the original & the restoration. Note that the paper on the restoration is simulated- it hasn't been printed yet, but I am planning on printing on a card stock with a similar color to what you see.

Now- regarding the restoration:
How am I doing
How do you like the colors
Does it bother you that the colors (looking at the blue & green areas) bleed into the area that should be dark brown (the original woodcut)?

-tb

On the note of the "bleeding", I don't really notice it at all & I think that such is par for the course when you are talking woodcuts anyway, kinda expected texture - yes?

I find your effort to be most elegant & very much buy-worthy. I collect historicals, & would DEF be interested in this one. The colors are really soothing, & at the same time they are most true to the original, & to the flavor of an original antique.

So yes - by all means, please feel that your efforts are worthwhile, & certainly I'd love to see about acquiring this one once it's done, if that's possible.

I suppose that you have to go to whoever the copyright holder is - I'm assuming that this is an either publicly- or privately-owned deck which has the interest of either the owner or the owning institution. Do you have any more info on this? I am very curious! I will be watching for your updates on a most fascinating project (in fact, this is the sort of thing that most interests me personally!).

payen restoration attempt

Hello Thinbuddha,

I think it is a good idea.
Two options:
Either doing like JC Flornoy and fully rebuild colors like it was (could have been) when cards where freshly printed ... in 1743
Or half revivified colors by adding years to an original freshly printed. Your attempt I suppose.
Difficult choice.

Let's organise a referendum/vote about this 2 options !!

Anyway I will buy ))) both versions for sure Because i am pretty nuts about historical Marseille Type Decks.

Questions: How many nuts in the bag ))

Yves Le Marseillais

thinbuddha said:

Now- regarding the restoration:
How am I doing

Click to expand...

Awesome. I want one NOW.

How do you like the colors

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I love them - kind of Héron-like. Restorations tend to be too loudly colored, often. You have a good instinct on this.

Does it bother you that the colors (looking at the blue & green areas) bleed into the area that should be dark brown (the original woodcut)?

Click to expand...

No.

I'm not sure if I will choose to sell this restored deck or not. I will have to look into questions of legality, but would you buy a deck like this?

Click to expand...

I'm standing in line already. I hope you can legally sell it. The only thing that could put me off at this point is crummy card stock.

I think you're doing a wonderful job.
I'm by no means an expert, but I think your color choices look excellent, and I like that you really haven't changed anything at all--I do like the way the Noblet has been updated, so to speak, but your approach is also valuable. I like that it looks old, but fresh at the same time.
The bleeding (what I can see of it, doesn't seem to be much) doesn't bother me.
I would definitely buy this deck if it were available.

Bravo for you!
What a wonderful project...you must really be bonding with this deck in a personal way looking at it so closely as you tweak and recolor it.
I love the blue you are using...it adds clarity but still has that old feeling.
My favorite decks are photo reproductions... this one I would buy for sure as it comes so close to that.

The bleeding doesn't bother me...I do notice the wooden curls at the top of her chair look fuzzy to me, but clearing them up might damage the over all feel of a restoration.
And the ...well what I call the spinning wheel at her feet..I'd like to see that a little lighter so the design on it is more noticable.

Thanks all for your input.

After printing out a test run of a few cards, I've decided that the light blue is probably a little too "electric" for the look I'm going for. I need to shop for card stock to be sure, but I may need to bring that color into the realm of a more realistically colored pigment.

Another thing I'm thinking of doing is replacing the titles by making a new font out of the best letters found in this deck (for example, the best "C" would be used everywhere a "C" is needed)

-tb

Now THERE'S an idea - excellent! Of course, that would make it very uniform, rather modernish - but it would probably be a lot easier on the eyes, at any rate.

Jean Dodal 1743 Photoshoped

Hello all,

I come back just to precise:

About bleeding blue and green areas on dark lines zones:
It is part of original "painting" of cards so, it is my choice.

About letters shapes:
also her I suggest to let original lettering.
Because some letters are smaller, some letters are... reversed (see Le pendu).
And all letters are easily readable on all cards.

Your cleaning surgery operation is enough for me and except details like what you cleaned on finger of Papesse, small black points and of course colors, I think it will preserve this deck "in his juice" for the main and important parts.

May be more vivid green may be if I can ask a favor ))

You know what ?
When I saw during this last 2 years Originals in my hands of:
Chosson françois
Madenié pierre
Laurent jean pierre
Conver Nicolas 1860 édition (My property)
Arnoux André
Bourlion François
Burdel Claude
In France or Swiss; I said in myself:
" This decks should be reproduced with modern technology on adequate paper by... adequate technicians"
For the benefit of all tarot Communauty because few people was able to see them for various good reasons: Being in USA, Australia, japan, Gb or other far away places, ignoring their value, ignoring sometimes their exact location, or simply their value or existence.

All this bla bla to say:

Thinbuddha you started a big game (in all terms) and you can't abandon us in the middle of the river... of Time.

Do your best for us and..
all the best to you

Yves Le Marseillais

PS: Do you accept €uros ? ))

Ah very nice, ThinBuddha. I agree with Yves--please leave the original lettering. It is part of the "truth" of this deck. What a wonderful project!