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| Rosenwald Tarot, Italy, Florence, ca. 1500, woodcut on laid paper, unidentified artist |
Over the centuries, what began as an elegant Italian card game gradually became intertwined with mysticism, esotericism, fortune-telling, and the occult, inspiring generations of artists, writers, and filmmakers. Among the later works that particularly caught my attention were those associated with Austin Osman Spare and Aleister Crowley. Despite my personal antipathy toward these particular figures, for reasons beyond a difference of faith, their influence helped shape the tarot’s modern esoteric tradition.
The exhibition traces this transformation through paintings, prints, and popular culture, illustrating how a Renaissance creation evolved into one of the most recognizable symbolic systems of the modern world.
Although I remain most interested in the Renaissance origins of tarot and the reflections found in Meditations on the Tarot, it was fascinating to see how later generations continually reinvented its imagery.
~ By Giovanni di Napoli
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| Rosenwald Tarot, Italy, Florence, ca. 1500, woodcut on laid paper, unidentified artist |
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| (L-R) Death, The Hanged Man, and The Fool, Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot (Deck "C"), London: William Rider & Son, ca, 1921-31, Pamela Colman Smith (1878-1951) and Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942) |
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| (L-R) The Devil, The Lovers, and The World, Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot (Deck "C"), London: William Rider & Son, ca, 1921-31, Pamela Colman Smith (1878-1951) and Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942) |
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| Two Dogs Howling at the Moon, 1961, graphite, gouache, and watercolor on paper, Leonora Carrington (1917-2011) |
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| Surrealist Racing Forecast Cards, 1936, privately published by Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956) |
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| Tarot Deck, ca. 1906, ink and watercolor on paper and Obeah Cards, ca. 1930, ink and crayon on cardstock, Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956) |
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| Tarot Deck, ca. 1906, ink and watercolor on paper, Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956) |
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| Tarot Deck, ca. 1906, ink and watercolor on paper, Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956) |
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| (L-R) Palimpsest (Self-Portrait), n.d., pencil and watercolor on board, Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956); Map of the Human Animal, 1962, watercolor, ink, and graphite on paper, Leonora Carrington (1917-2011); and The Other Clock (El otro relo), 1957, gouache and ink on cardboard, Remedios Varo (1908-1963) |
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| (L-R) Sketch for "The Magus," n.d., graphite on paper, and sketch for "Adjustment," n.d., ink and graphite on paper, Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) and Lady Frieda Harris (1877-1962) |
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| (L-R) Death, The Magus, and Knight of Wands. Drawings for the Thoth Tarot, 1938-43, watercolor on paper with hand-painted mats, Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) and Lady Frieda Harris (1877-1962) |
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| (L-R) The Moon, Three of Disks, and The Chariot. Drawings for the Thoth Tarot, 1938-43, watercolor on paper with hand-painted mats, Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) and Lady Frieda Harris (1877-1962) |
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| Thoth Tarot Card Deck / Ordo Templi Orientis, White Box "B," St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, (1973(?)], Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) and Lady Frieda Harris (1877-1962) |
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| (L-R) The Lovers, The Magician, The World, Tarot Universal Dalí, Spain: Naipes Comas, 1984, Salvador Dali (1904-1989) |
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| Devil and Fool, 1948 Oil on canvas, Kurt Seligmann (1900-1962) |
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| The Book of Thoth, London: Urdo lempli Orientis/Chiswick Press, 1944, Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) |
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| Translated by Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942), The History of Magic, London: Rider & Co, Paternoster House, E.C., mid-twentieth century], Eliphas Lévi (Alphonse Louis Constant, 1810-1875) |
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| (L-R) Untitled, n.d., watercolor and ink on paper; Sketch for Glass, 1908, watercolor and ink on paper; Time, n.d., watercolor and graphite on paperboard, Pamela Colman Smith (1878-1951) |
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| (L-R) Untitled, 1955, ink, watercolor, and gouache on paper, Cameron (Marjorie Cameron, 1922-1995); Wheel of Fortune, n.d., gouache on paper, Juanita Guccione (1904-1999); and The Pulp Tarot, New York, The Unemployed Philosophers Guild, 2021, Todd Alcott |
