What is it about the Marseilles art that you like?

garmonbozia said:

I think both are essential. I find it very difficult to choose one over the other.

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That is almost my view, but on the whole I prefer the cleaned-up versions. I have the facsimile decks and enjoy looking at them but in my heart I prefer the cleaner lines and less muddy colours of the restored decks.

Alta said:

That is almost my view, but on the whole I prefer the cleaned-up versions. I have the facsimile decks and enjoy looking at them but in my heart I prefer the cleaner lines and less muddy colours of the restored decks.

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I love it when people can say exactly what I've been trying to say in a fraction of the words I think I must have read too much Dickens; he never used 10 words where 100 words would do!

I have found that the Pierre Madenié bridges the gap nicely. It is definitely old and yet there is something very sharp about the lines and - most importantly for me - the eyes. You can really read them. I always loved decks like the Vieville for the exotic factor - the turbans and botched woodblocking and yet the Flornoys gave me what I needed in terms of reading because of the lack of distractions. But really, the Madenié is the best "unrestored" antique razor sharp reading deck that I own of the reproductions.

I do however LOVE the ISIS. That really presses all the buttons for me. It looks like it has been redrawn with a laser. I love absolutely everything about it and it has really stood the test of time for me - I have loved it since it came out and still do.

Have never been able to get in the Grimaud Marseilles - it seems so sterile to me. Nor the Fournier (too rouged)

Chrystella said:

For a long time, I didn't like Marseille decks. I thought they were ugly. I was starting to develop a new appreciation for them and then I stumbled upon the Pierre Madenie 1709 by Yves Reynaud. That sealed the deal.

I like everything - the reproductions, restorations, and facsimiles (see what I did there, Barleywine? lol).

I like the facsimiles because they are quirky and I like the idea of having a copy of the deck as it exists today with its stains, ghost lines, and other wear and tear.

I like the restorations because I like receiving the same deck (or something close to) what a person of that era would have received if they had just purchased one. I imagine it would have been nice and clean with near perfect lines and vivid colours.

I like the reproductions because I appreciate the knowledge and vision of contemporary artists and card makers. I like that they bring something new to something classic.

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I'm with her. Variety in all things. Yves' decks are fantastic and FEEL old (and wouldn't if the corners were rounded, so kudos to him for resisting the temptation !) But the CBD and so many others are also lovely.

ETA one I LOVE is the Meunier TdM restoration - there's a thread I started somewhere. And the Sophistiqué - a pretty, muted one that doesn't claim to be anything - with an Ecureil Heureux !

Like you, Starlight, I really am attracted to the range of TdM cards. I like the reproductions, facsimilies, etc. The minors were a big attraction to me. There's something very modern looking about them. I find that my mind comes up with so many more options with the TdM minors. Compound that with the variety of decks, and the TdM can pretty much keep me interested for the rest of my life.

gregory said:

I'm with her. Variety in all things. Yves' decks are fantastic and FEEL old (and wouldn't if the corners were rounded, so kudos to him for resisting the temptation !)

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I rounded the corners on one of mine because I'm such a brazen heathen.

Le Fanu said:

I rounded the corners on one of mine because I'm such a brazen heathen.

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A Grimaud was my very first Tarot deck a few decades ago but I just couldn't find my way in, or past, the bold primary colors, the chunky shapes, the stark landscape. I wanted oblique, I wanted subtle but how could my young self access what was still nascent in my own being. Fast forward a few decades and I stumble across...don't laugh...the Marseille Cats deck. Not exactly oblique, meow, but the felinity with its celebration of the elusive and haughty drew me in and the color scheme is less monochromatic which has been helpful to me in establishing a more resonant relationship with the tradition.

Those cats were my portal, from there I found the LoS Universal Marseille which my 21st century eyes with their need for variety like a lot. But the one that really did it for me was the Madenie. Here, finally, was the obliqueness I sought. For me, with this deck, it's the silences that speak to me, the poetry of the unsaid that lies all around the images and spills off the edges of the cards into the realm of the Beloved, the timeless, the true, the Question.

I'm not sure if that answers your questions, OP. I'm still so very green, with only one slim toe dipped into the waters of this lineage but I'm rather in love.

I like that they are not so overloaded with info. They are so to the point, just what matters is there, nothing extra.

But that is also the reason I go back to using other decks now and then.

I do love the restored decks and the replika decks both.

Now I feel I need to get a Madenie though!!!

Square for corners

gregory said:

I'm with her. Variety in all things. Yves' decks are fantastic and FEEL old (and wouldn't if the corners were rounded, so kudos to him for resisting the temptation !) But the CBD and so many others are also lovely.

ETA one I LOVE is the Meunier TdM restoration - there's a thread I started somewhere. And the Sophistiqué - a pretty, muted one that doesn't claim to be anything - with an Ecureil Heureux !

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Hello all,

Don't worry: I resist to all temptations (except Led Zepppelin ha ha !!).
My next two decks Heri 1718 and Claude Burdel 1751 will be square corners coz they were like this and a facsimile is a facsimile.
One little month to still wait for this.... I am excited by them.

Best

Yves