Madrigal
World Spirit Tarot fits the bill for me. The woodcut medium produces a wonderfully muscular array of figures. The women are viscerally strong.
Barbieri’s smug QoW popped into my mind as I read your post. The deck has a lot of trouser-wearing, shorter-haired women. There are more women than men, and definitely more pants than dresses/robes. There might even be more dragons than dresses in this deck, lol. To a lesser extent, the Epic Tarot has women/androgynous folk in pants and armor, and also dresses…but they look like adventurers, not decor. The 8 of Cups is like the fantasy version of someone staring at a Tom Cruise poster wanting to be him. =P
I'm just happy when the women have clothes on......
Hmm yeah but the aesthetic of be Barbieri is still very much the body-on-display, woman-as-decoration (despite the very cool Queen of Wands). The Epic is the similar - though I agree, more interesting than many - but still all hair-piled-on-heads and feminity as fragile.
I think a lot of men in Tarot decks are decorative too. I'd say their bodies are on display!
I think a lot of men in Tarot decks are decorative too. I'd say their bodies are on display!
The Vacchetta queen of swords is depicted this way, though she's wearing a lovely dress while holding the severed head in her hand.True. But while this is an increasing trend in contemporary culture, it isn't the default, and I'm not arguing about that. The default position for the male is the Actor, the Agent, the Subject, while women are, 90% of the time the Object.
Even the female knight of wands is artfully arranged on a chair. I want Artemisia's Judith, hacking of her foe's head.