Contemporaries of Pixie's time

Cerulean - It's been rather tricky trying to pinpoint her influences. In Stuart Kaplan's biography on Pamela Colman Smith, he doesn't include the fact that Walter Crane might have influenced her style. I only knew that by accidently looking at John Coulthart's art blog. Wondering if you can cite blog in essays though.

I listened to one of Leisa ReFalo podcast of 'The Tarot Collection' called 'The Art of Tarot with Robert Place and Ciro Marchetti'. Robert Place mentions that Pamela 'met her heroe' Burne-Jones when she was a girl living at the Lycaem Theatre, as he did some of the set designs. If had that down on paper somewhere that would be helpful, but no such luck, hehe.

Two references to Walter Crane and PCS' circle

http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=601957&postcount=14

Melinda Boyd Parson's commentary from her art catalogue of Pamela Colman Smith To All Believers mentions the Walter Crane connection and is the source for Holly Voley's and other citations - skip down to where Holly writes about the Theatre of Beauty:

http://home.comcast.net/~pamela-c-smith/bio.html


Walter Crane's design of the Jubilee program mentioned in this quote above for Francis Farr is harder to pinpoint, as I saw it in a description somewhere of someone selling Walter Crane memorabilia. However Walter Crane's style of illustration and his book design aesthetics and work on children's books were not unlike PCS' own efforts. If you want a contemporary tribute of Walter Crane designs with Rider Waite in mnd, the modern Harmonious Tarot curiously does have a visual compatibility...and there's a curious whimsy in some of Walter Crane's work for juveniles which you might see compatible in PCS' designs of musical scores and doodles...but that is just my opinion.

Hope the notes helped.

Cerulean

Deleted: saw this was a repeat

If I find anything else, I'll post here.

Cerulean

rota said:

Then as now there was widespread interest in metaphysics, as counterweight to the constant waves of social change.

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Pertaining to "Contemporaries of Pixie's Time" you have wonderfully captured the etheric essence. Pamela Colman Smith was so entirely original that no one would ever suppose to copy her style, they would seek to rob newer, as yet uninhabited graves. The monument of the "Rider Tarot" is the cumulative apotheosis of our darling girl's spunk. There was nothing like it, she made it, and it remains definitive

Re: the style of the deck. While the deck as a whole owes a lot to her teacher Dow's fascination with Japanese print-making, the Lesser Arcana is heavily influenced by the Arthurian/Grail style illustrations of the period—much more so than the Greater Arcana. This is very apparent if you look through all the illustrations at The Camelot Project:
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/artmenu.htm
It was in 1909 that Waite published his book, The Hidden Church of the Holy Graal in which he has a chapter on the significance of the the Lesser Arcana in relation to the Grail tradition: “The Hallows of the Graal Mystery Rediscovered in the Talismans of the Tarot.” Waite also tells us in PKT that the Ace of Cups [the Grail] is “an intimation of that which may lie behind the Lesser Arcana.” Later he tells us that the Knight of Swords is Galahad.

Having once been a graphic designer (and having taken university courses in the field) and from extensive evidence, it seems apparent to me that Waite and Smith collaborated on the deck. It's what a trained book illustrator does. Yeats himself noted how she seemed to know what what in his mind regarding a theatrical set design she did for him. There's absolutely no evidence that Smith had deep knowledge of the tarot or that she was an esoteric scholar—although it is acknowledged that she had some knowledge of the cards—and she had not yet achieved the grade initiation that would give her access to all the GD materials on the tarot—yet that information is apparent in many of the illustrations.

Acknowledging Waite's involvement in no way takes away from the intuition and brilliance of Smith and her artistic skill in creating what I think is one of the world's major decks. But, to think that she created the deck independently from Waite and that he then 'stole' it (as a few people have attested in the past), is absurd.

It seems probable that, for the Minor Arcana, Waite gave Smith several sets of card meanings that he wanted integrated as much as possible: Etteilla, Mathers, Chambers and some GD material are pre-eminent sources, but I also believe that he either told Smith stories to go with each of the suits or gave her a written version, because they match up so precisely with the suits. I give the details of the Cups suit here:
http://marygreer.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/grail-myths-in-the-minor-arcana-cups/
And I give the evidence for Waite's involvement in the Lesser Arcana here:
http://marygreer.wordpress.com/2009/02/07/the-grail-and-the-minor-arcana-the-evidence/#more-1413

In my estimation, Smith achieved far more than Waite could ever have imagined, but this was partly due to her intuitive ability to grasp the essence of someone else's text and intention in her illustrations. This ability is not to be sneered at—which is the implication when people insist that Waite could not have been involved in the creation of the deck.

It was interesting listening to one of the judges on "So You Think You Can Dance" (who are professional dancers and choreographers themselves)—who commented that a dancer is like a paintbrush in the hands of the choreographer who creates the dance. Smith clearly had more latitude in designing the Lesser Arcana than the Greater Arcana, but she was still doing the job she was trained to do—illustrate the words and ideas of others, which is a highly skill profession in it's own right!

You'll find lots of sources for info on Pixie and her art here:
http://marygreer.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/the-art-of-pamela-colman-smith/

Thanks Teheuti,that's a lot of detailed information for me to digest. I had a feeling that the Ace of Cups might have something to do with the Holy Grail.

In Robet Place's book 'The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination' he discusses the working relationship between Waite and Smith, explaining that Waite found the Major Arcana important and held little regard for the Lesser Arcana as it was associated with divination, which wasn't his thing.

"We can also gather that he explained the general elemental and symbolic structure of the four suits, and provided a list, from Etteilla and other sources, of traditional meanings that are associated with each card. These lists are included with each minor card in 'The Pictoral Key to The Tarot'. Many of the meanings are contradictory and Smith's illustrations convey only SOME of the listed meanings. As we will see, Waite seems to have formed his opinion on which meaning is being conveyed AFTER Smith created the Illustrations. It is therefore likely that Smith chose from Waite's list the meaning that she wanted to convey for each card. Further evidence for Smith's independence in the creation of the Minor Arcana can be gleaned from the fact that many of the characters and symbols that she incorporated in the pips are modelled on her own paintings that she completed sometimes years before receiving the commission." pg184

Obviously this isn't the case in regards to Greer's blog. She comments that, "...I present evidence for my theory that the Minor Arcana of the Rider-Waite Smith Tarot deck (RWS) is based on Grail myths and similar mystical stories." So what are the other mystical stories attributed to the other suits? Kaplan covers the basic narrative to what each one is meant to express e.g. suit of clubs / staves show a family divided between tradional and modern methods. This is all very intriguing information. : D

Lady_Cerridwen said:

Kaplan covers the basic narrative to what each one is meant to express e.g. suit of clubs / staves show a family divided between tradional and modern methods.

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Kaplan's narrative doesn't come from Smith or Waite but was something that he, or someone working with him, made up. I used to have my students do the same thing with the Minor Arcana suits. It's fun to do.

In Robert Place's book 'The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination' he discusses the working relationship between Waite and Smith, explaining that Waite found the Major Arcana important and held little regard for the Lesser Arcana as it was associated with divination, which wasn't his thing.

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No one knows what the working relationship of Waite and Smith was. Anything said about it would have to be supposition—except for the specific statements made by Waite. He said he "spoonfed" her with details for the Majors. It seems clear that he did not dictate the images or details for the Minors (with some few exceptions)—but left the choice of image up to her. This is not unusual with an illustrator. It's also not unusual for an artist to use images and motifs from their other works—especially in a job that had to be done so quickly. None of this shows that there was not some form of collaboration or general intent on Waite's part for a story-line to be illustrated. Personally, I think Smith did an amazing job, having been given so much contradictory information to work with.

So what are the other mystical stories attributed to the other suits?

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The Swords suit (which I was not sure of earlier) is definitely the Hiram Abiff story taken directly from the Master Mason ritual.
The Pentacles is more generally about the craft of Masonry.
Wands is probably Percival (as told by Waite), although I still have to firm that one up.

Of sleeping and waking (Waite)

That virgin peer who sought the Holy Grail
Found in the castle hall his senses fail,
By heavy slumber strangely overweigh'd.
The pom, through smoke of censers slowly sway'd,
Swept by him, prone with limbs that never stirr'd.
And lips that moved not with the questing word,
Which would the hidden mystery reveal
And the King's hurts and all the counry heal.
Therefrom the woe wax'd greater more and more,
So also we, who our sad state deplore,
Of hidden oracle and holy lips
Ask secret lights, the passwords and the grips:
But when the vision from the veil replies
Sleep falls full heavy on our souls and eyes,
And whether it is spoken or withheld,
It utters nothng to our senses spell'd.
O Knight of Arthur's court, after great stress
You saw the hallows which could heal and bless :
May we in time our long enchantment break
And to the word of life from sleep awake !

http://www.learntarot.com/bigjpgs/cups12.jpg

Here's his words (Waite) from Strange Houses of Sleep...hmm...I'd like to match his poetry based on themes discussed here to the poetic artistry of the images!

Cerulean

sounds Four-of-Swords-y to me...!

Looking at Pixie's imagery for the Lower Arcana, I have to say she does make me laugh. In particular the 7 of Swords is a great example. I don't know why Pixie thought anyone could pick up a pile of swords by the tips and not get cut. The fact that she treated the Lower Arcana as one big stage, you could even say she treats the objects as hand-made props! Has anyone else noticed this at all?

http://www.sacred-texts.com/tarot/xr/sw07.htm