20 Yrs of Tarot: The LoS Story

spoonbender

LS book said:
Unfortunately, very conservative "Marseilles purists" tend to resist modernization of the deck's original images and while Serio's art is as brilliant as it is innovative, we have found that it is very difficult for popular markets to appreciate.
Huh? The statement sort of makes it sound like the 'popular markets' are made up out of 'very conservative Marseilles purists'... Or is it saying that Serio's art isn't appreciated by the popular markets? Either way it doesn't make much sense to me - Serio's art is exquisite, and surely Marseilles purists are a tiny minority?? I don't see how a deck based on or inspired by the Tarot of Marseilles could anger purists to begin with, just as long as it doesn't claim to BE a Tarot of Marseilles or to present it accurately when it isn't/doesn't. (I've never heard anyone complain about the Dürer, the Secret or the Crystal, for example.) :bugeyed: Maybe Ric can jump in and shed some light on this? I think Andrea Serio's art rocks, but neither the Dante or the Liber T appeal to me very much because of the concept behind them, so I would have LOVED to see her interpretation of the Tarot of Marseilles! Much more than I want to buy any of the LS decks scheduled for release in 2008...

I will definitely be getting the book, by the way. It sounds fascinating. :)

Spoon
 

rwcarter

WolfyJames said:
It's unfortunate I cannot see the rare images from the deck, I won't buy the book just for that.
Attached is a scan from the book. It's low res, so hopefully that should be OK copyright-wise.

Rodney
 

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Mariana

spoonbender said:
I would have LOVED to see her interpretation of the Tarot of Marseilles! Much more than I want to buy any of the LS decks scheduled for release in 2008...

Same here.
 

WolfyJames

rwcarter said:
Attached is a scan from the book. It's low res, so hopefully that should be OK copyright-wise.

Wow! This is beautiful indeed. I just wish though the colors were bolder but beside that it's awesome!

spoonbender said:
I LOVE Andrea Serio's art so I would have LOVED to see her interpretation of the Tarot of Marseilles! Much more than I want to buy any of the LS decks scheduled for release in 2008...

Agreed twice. The Dark Grimoire seems interesting but the 2008 collection is nothing compared to that Tarot de Marseille deck.
 

spoonbender

Thanks a lot, Rodney - those samples look are just like made of awesome! Wow.

It's sad that an idea like that was discarded (for a reason which I still find very unclear).

Spoon
 

Sphinxmoth

rwcarter said:
Attached is a scan from the book. It's low res, so hopefully that should be OK copyright-wise.

Rodney

OMG.

OMG OMG OMG

*jaw drops*

i just got converted to a Marseilles deck (of apparently the
non-purist variety), right here, just now, in front of g-d and everyone..

omg

(and I, too, LOVE Andrea Serio's work and always have- but THIS- this
is a minor miracle..)
 

baba-prague

Thanks for posting that scan - the cards look beautiful. It's a shame this deck isn't going to be published. Do I understand correctly that the reason is that LS feel that Marseilles enthusiasts only want reproductions, not modern interpretations? It would be interesting to hear Ric comment more on this.
 

felicityk

I got this book at an absurdly low price from buy.com. I wanted to wait until I received it to make sure I got the right item (the ISBN was correct, but you never know), and I did. Unfortunately, they seem to have caught on and bumped the price back up, but it's still cheaper than Amazon.

Felicity
 

teomat

Wow! That TdM looks brilliant!!
A real shame it's been shelved, considering how many RWS clones are vomitted every year. An modern take on the Marseille would have been very refreshing.

However if they do what they did with their Burdel deck (multi-languages, pentacles instead of coins, numbered fool etc), it would put me off quite a bit. I know the card imagery is the important thing, but I do like my decks to have an overall consistancy in design (borders, backs and title-wise).
 

felicityk

I've had a chance to look at the book, and I share in the disappointment that LS didn't go forward with Andrea Serio's Marseilles deck. I was also disappointed to see that the preliminary art for the Universal Wirth Tarot (p. 32), by Luigi Di Giammarino, was much more attractive (IMHO) than the final version by Stefano Palumbro. There are several examples in the book of decks that were originally conceptualized by a different artist than was finally settled on, but in this case I think LS made a bad call.

Felicity