Decks of high artistic merit

Of course, everyone has their preferences. That's what this thread is for. These are mine, and I hope you will share yours. This is a focus on the artwork, and not any underlying system, philosophy, religion or methodology associated with the decks. I'm surely going to annoy people with my unrestrained opinions on these decks - feel free to fire one back!!!

1. Crowley/Harris Thoth. I think this is a deck that stands far above all others, bar none. The imagery to me is just sublime and surreal. This is _fine art_, in contrast to what I would consider the pop-art of Pamela Smith. Crowley and Harris left humanity with a great gift in this deck. Most decks contain one or two "stinkers" that really annoy the crap out of me, and ruin the whole experience. There are none in this deck. Every card is a masterpiece in it's own right.

2. Etteilla III Thoth (no relationship to Crowley Thoth above). Another artistically superior deck that gets no real respect - understandably because the underlying system is sparsely documented and doesn't follow RWS or other modern styles of interpretation. I don't proclaim to understand the inner workings of this deck, but I really like the imagery. I think the way the female figures are portrayed are very down to earth and are really sensual. The deck to me has a very "mystical" appearance that I dig. If asked what a tarot deck "should look like", I could easily describe the Etteilla III along side of the RWS or Swiss 1JJ.

3. Pagan Otherworlds tarot. There's a recent thread here that goes into extensive detail on this deck so I'll leave it at that. One of the few modern decks I really dig.

Honorable mentions: Deviant Moon and Tarot of the Holy Light.

I would personally make a distinction - just me, others can disagree - between decks where the high artistic merit comes from the creator, like the Pagan Otherworlds, and those decks which use the art of others, and uses it well, to create a deck, like the Distant Past or Victorian Romantic, Victoria Regina or Holy Light.

Of the former I would agree with the Pagan Otherworlds, in a category of its own. Plus Frieda Harris' Thoth and the Liber T. I also quite like the Via Tarot for its artwork. There will be others but I can never remember off the top of my head.

What Le Fanu said.

In the "original" category I would personally include

(1) Baba's Alice
(2) Uusi's Pagan Otherworlds
(3) Crowley's Thoth
(4) The Wild Unknown (this style is now almost a cliche, but it was the first of its kind from what I remember)
(5) The Urban Tarot (multi media, personal stories)
(6) Mary-El
(7) Daniloff
(8) Tarot Noir (Hackerie)
(9) Patrick Valenza's

I am sure I am missing some....

Circle of life
Margaret Peterson
Mary-El
Bizantine
Efflorescent

These are a delight for my eyes. Actually, I am glad you raised this question because I am starting to go away from poor artisticly drawn decks. Whenever I see a deck with distorted faces or amateurish art, I pass...

Well, I have a bit different taste I guess

Dream of Gaia tarot(modern usage of graphics)
Crysalis tarot(pagan)
Fey tarot(animation)
Hudes tarot(classic)

The Golden Tarot of Klimt transports me to a different place everytime I look at its cards.

Le Tarot Tournant, by Bill Wolf

Daniloff Tarot by Alexander Daniloff

I'm also very drawn to Patrick Valenza's artwork and decks. I'm waiting on the Trionfi Della Luna.

To me this would be:

Japaridze Tarot
Margarete Petersen Tarot
Mary-El Tarot
Intuitive Tarot

Victorian Romantic
Tarot Decoratif
Wild Green Chagallian
Marie-Claude Purro Tarot

Thoth with its use of projective geometry is also in my opinion the perfect blend of high artistic merit and adherence to an esoteric system.

I also find the art of the Lebanon, Daniloff, Margarethe Petersen, Light and Shadow, Secret Forest, Eisbergfreistadt (playing cards) decks very good. If I had the money, I'd buy non-tarot related art by any of their artists.

Robert Place's graphic style is in a league of his own and I like his style very much.