Yoav Ben-Dov
in this essay i explain the color aspects in the reproduction of the Conver (1760) tarot deck, which i recently published as "CBD Tarot de Marseille": how and why i chose this coloring scheme and this color palette. a fuller discussion of the CBD deck is in this thread
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=163515
also a separate essay on the face expressions is here
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=168219
as this is long, i separate it ino 4 consecutive posts.
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colors in the Conver and CBD Tarot de Marseille
1. lines and colors
the colors of the card images have a great impact on the emotional experience of the reader. in my way of using tarot this is an essential factor in the interpretation, so in working on the CBD deck i had to pay a special attention to the coloring. actually this involved two sets of decisions: (1) the coloring scheme, i.e. in which color to do each area in the image, and (2) the color palette, i.e. once i decided, for example, that certain surfaces should be colored red, which shade of red i should use.
for both sets i first had to understand how the original colors in the Conver decks were produced. for this i relied on several sources, including the professional knowledge of Leela Ganin who drew the black lines for the cards, hints from internet sites and forum posts, and especially the historical studies in "Cartes a jouer & Tarots de Marseille, la donation Camoin" published by Musees de Marseille (2004).
because of the technique of production, the marseille decks have a set of basic and uniform colors, not like the gradual shades of modern deck. in fact the black lines and the colors represent two different levels of production and authenticity. the lines were printed from woodcut blocks made under the supervision of the master (Conver) himself. Possibly they were copied from Conver's design but done by a professional specializing in woodcutting (it is also possible that the letters were cut by another specialist). when i look at the decks which i used for the restoration (the Conver editions published by heron and by lo scarabeo, the bicentennial (1960) camoin printing, plus copies of specific cards i found here and there on the internet), they are all printed from the same original woodcuts. Thus, what i see in the lines is the actual work of the master and/or the persons working under his direction.
in contrast, the colors were hand painted with a set of stencil sheets ("pochoire"), one for each color, in which holes were cut in the appropriate places. they were put on the printed sheets and painted over with a brush. so the actual painting would be the work of a "simple" worker doing a batch of decks one after another. the stencils were not always put exactly so you can see that each color has some offset relative to the lines, which would be different from one copy to another. also the painter could miss a small hole here and there, or have too much paint on the brush that would smear. this means that i could not always be sure about the original coloring of small areas - whether the red should end on this or on that line, etc.
also, the stencils were much less durable than the woodcut blocks, as they were made from heavy paper coated on both sides with several layers of paint. in decades of use they were worn out and had to be replaced. this is probably why the scarabeo copy (second half of the 19th century) has many coloring variations relative to the heron (early 19th) deck. as can be expected, the scarabeo coloring is less precise and less elaborated than in the heron deck - it was copied from former sheets which were already worn out, and not under the caring eye of the original creator.
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=163515
also a separate essay on the face expressions is here
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=168219
as this is long, i separate it ino 4 consecutive posts.
------------------------------------------------------------
colors in the Conver and CBD Tarot de Marseille
1. lines and colors
the colors of the card images have a great impact on the emotional experience of the reader. in my way of using tarot this is an essential factor in the interpretation, so in working on the CBD deck i had to pay a special attention to the coloring. actually this involved two sets of decisions: (1) the coloring scheme, i.e. in which color to do each area in the image, and (2) the color palette, i.e. once i decided, for example, that certain surfaces should be colored red, which shade of red i should use.
for both sets i first had to understand how the original colors in the Conver decks were produced. for this i relied on several sources, including the professional knowledge of Leela Ganin who drew the black lines for the cards, hints from internet sites and forum posts, and especially the historical studies in "Cartes a jouer & Tarots de Marseille, la donation Camoin" published by Musees de Marseille (2004).
because of the technique of production, the marseille decks have a set of basic and uniform colors, not like the gradual shades of modern deck. in fact the black lines and the colors represent two different levels of production and authenticity. the lines were printed from woodcut blocks made under the supervision of the master (Conver) himself. Possibly they were copied from Conver's design but done by a professional specializing in woodcutting (it is also possible that the letters were cut by another specialist). when i look at the decks which i used for the restoration (the Conver editions published by heron and by lo scarabeo, the bicentennial (1960) camoin printing, plus copies of specific cards i found here and there on the internet), they are all printed from the same original woodcuts. Thus, what i see in the lines is the actual work of the master and/or the persons working under his direction.
in contrast, the colors were hand painted with a set of stencil sheets ("pochoire"), one for each color, in which holes were cut in the appropriate places. they were put on the printed sheets and painted over with a brush. so the actual painting would be the work of a "simple" worker doing a batch of decks one after another. the stencils were not always put exactly so you can see that each color has some offset relative to the lines, which would be different from one copy to another. also the painter could miss a small hole here and there, or have too much paint on the brush that would smear. this means that i could not always be sure about the original coloring of small areas - whether the red should end on this or on that line, etc.
also, the stencils were much less durable than the woodcut blocks, as they were made from heavy paper coated on both sides with several layers of paint. in decades of use they were worn out and had to be replaced. this is probably why the scarabeo copy (second half of the 19th century) has many coloring variations relative to the heron (early 19th) deck. as can be expected, the scarabeo coloring is less precise and less elaborated than in the heron deck - it was copied from former sheets which were already worn out, and not under the caring eye of the original creator.