Pamela Colman SmithSmith was experimental, interdisciplinary, and collaborative long before any of t
Pamela Colman SmithSmith was experimental, interdisciplinary, and collaborative long before any of them were fashionable — an intelligent, worldly, and independent thinker with prodigious talent. Still, she died penniless and uncelebrated at the age of 73 in Bude, England. Had it not been for her iconic signature, which she designed while still a student, her name might have been lost forever.When she was studying with Dow, the champion of Japanese design, he had his students make a monogram from their own initials using the traditional woodblock method. Smith’s monogram, PCS, a serpentine cipher on every Tarot card is a critical claim on their maker’s intellectual property (there was of course no question of a woman possessing intellectual property at that time).Today, more than 100 million copies of the Rider-Waite-Smith Deck are in circulation in over 20 countries, making it the most popular Tarot deck ever made.Reviving a Forgotten Artist of the Occult - Hyperallergic -- source link
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