What is it about the Marseilles art that you like?

nicky

I knew an honest answer would get me abused LOL - though to answer Edmund's question "What is it about the Marseilles art that you like?" it honestly it not my thing - the stuff I do like the purists would say isn't Marseilles - my all time favorite deck is Osvaldo's version of the Vacchetta - also his Visconti Sforza and his Della Rocca - but I'm sure none of those count in this catagory.
 

3ill.yazi

I think because I don't have the best eyesight in the world, my preference is for the repro decks, but until I got the Noblet, I was vaguely dissatisfied with all of my TdMs (not that I have so many).

Previous to the Noblet, my favorite was the Heron TdM, whose only fault is that some of the colors and many of the faces look faded.

I love the look of the CBD, but I can't get past how the faces were altered to make them look more cheerful. I want my grumpy/indeterminate people.

When I opened the Noblet, POW! The colors and the lines just SNAPPED. I love this deck. And as much as I was worried about the corners, they don't bother me so far, tho I guess it remains to be seen how they will age.

As for what I like about the look of the TdM, I guess I like the historical look/feel of them, and that they are not crammed with obvious esoteric additions. Which gives me space to conjecture about their own oddities. To be frank, there are very few modern decks that I like: many of them just look very tacky to me.
 

SarahJoy

Honestly? I don't actually like the Marseilles art. It seems very plebian; it's not a good example of great art from its era.

That said, I still love the Marseilles, and plan to acquire more decks. There's an everyman authenticity to the style, and I enjoy studying and handling it, especially the un-retouched repros.
 

BSwett

Marseille decks give me peace. Each card, like an old friend. I always smile when I flip over one of them; no matter which. It's been with me forever, sometimes tucked away for a while, sometimes in my back pocket, and it makes me feel like part of a centuries old tradition of game and fantasy and candlelight poetry.
Actually I like all cards; from Settlers of Catan resource cards, to poker, to any kind of stackable deck of painted or written on cardboard rectangles.

I recently moved to a small beach town in Central América, and i decided to not bring my entire tarot collection, so I chose my favourite 4 decks. Spanish Fournier, Flornoy's Dodal and Noblet, and the cheerful CBD. Interestingly enough I didn't bring down any of my historic facsimiles since I don't usually "communicate" with them as well when it comes to readings. But now that I think about it, I miss them tremendously. Just going through and looking at them, and wondering about their past.

I live in a pretty touristic attraction town. People from all over the world stop by to spend at least a couple of days here. Lots of french people come down. Often times I've bumped into someone from Marseille, and i have found it very interesting how little tarot mean to them. When someone says: "I'm from Marseille, France" I feel like shaking their hand and telling them how I have an interesting connection with their town, and do you know Yves Le Marseillaise or Rossane Flornoy, and I can't wait to visit and all that... but with any mention of TdM, all I get is kind of a blank stare and a crooked french eyebrow asking "what in Le Monde, are you talking about?"

Funny.

Paece all,
Bryan
 

Philippe

Often times I've bumped into someone from Marseille, and i have found it very interesting how little tarot mean to them. When someone says: "I'm from Marseille, France" I feel like shaking their hand and telling them how I have an interesting connection with their town, and I can't wait to visit and all that... but with any mention of TdM, all I get is kind of a blank stare and a crooked french eyebrow asking "what in Le Monde, are you talking about?"

Funny.

Paece all,
Bryan

TdM is the general name given lately by Papus and Marteau to the ancient tarot but until the second half of the XVIIIth century tarot and its cardmakers were not, with very few exceptions, from Marseilles. I'm convinced that the sources as well as the actors of the popular tarot imagery that we call TdM must be found elsewhere in France.
 

BSwett

TdM is the general name given lately by Papus and Marteau to the ancient tarot but until the second half of the XVIIIth century tarot and its cardmakers were not, with very few exceptions, from Marseilles. I'm convinced that the sources as well as the actors of the popular tarot imagery that we call TdM must be found elsewhere in France.

Oh, I know that it's just a name. Still, I find it curiously funny that some of us hold a romantic idea of this town that is unaware of the secret crush...
Then again, I've also met plenty of people from Tuscany that think that Chianti is a grape.
 

foolMoon

The major arcana and court cards give typical medieval feel, while the pip cards are simple & minimalist, i.e. the numbers and type of suit are all there is to it. Sometimes the less is more.
 

feynrir

I love the art of Marseille decks because it seems as though every line, every color is so bold, it's GOT to be essential! It's not easy to actually miss details on a clean (facsimile) Marseille deck, but there is a lot going on. Everything that speaks out is also ironically subtle--directionality, the folds in the clothes, an ambiguity in how a character is positioned, etc.

I also love the ornateness of the Aces and again, the subtlety of the pip cards. I have always been really fond of unillustrated pips, they are so much more flexible and have great beauty in their simplicity.

Even though I used the word "bold" in my first point to describe Marseille decks, it is worth noting that I have a great personal preference for bold colors over anything subdued. The bolder the art, the better a deck will resonate with me, hands down!

I also find the Conver Queen of Swords just beautiful. All of my favorite Marseille decks are Conver-based--ISIS and CBD are my tops--and I have yet to experience a TdM deck that is not a restoration.