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NEWSLETTERNo. 2 February 2014

Here it comes, fresh as dew, the second issue of our newsletter. And with it a cordial „Thank you“ for

all the cheery congratulations that have reached us by e-mail or letter. This increases vim and vigor,

that is why we promptly hitch up our sleeves looking for treasures able to shed light in this dim month

of February.

And see, that certain date plays straight into our hands:

February 14 is Valentine's day.

Malicious tongues may assert that the hubbub around Valentine's is a smart gambit of the florists.

Well possible that they take a chance. But it is also possible that its origin truly lies in 15th century

England when there was a kind of St. Valentine celebration at the court of

Richard II. It is believed that it was there when Geoffrey Chaucer's poem

was declaimed for the first time. “Parlement of Birddes” was its name,

and it is about the search for a mate. No wonder that it created a furor. By

all means certain is that since that day the date is marked in red on all

calendars of the world. Red like love! Therefore we shift this time the focus

of our newsletter towards card decks that deal with that ancient, ageless

topic. Admittedly, this was not that easy. If we had called it „Erotics“, we

could have drowned in a sea of choices. But how does love show in cards? Can you at all dissociate

one from the other?

Valentine's Day – the day of love

©CARTORAMA Jean Darquenne & Angela Joschko

Minotarot„Minotarot“, the card deck by Eric Provoost, is a

masterpiece by the French illustrator from the year

1982. Provoost relates in insistent pictures on 78

cards the myth of Minotaur, that man-eating mon-

ster, half human, half bull, captive in the labyrinth

of King Minos in Crete. It is also a story of love

with a happy ending. Because Theseus, thanks

to the help of his beloved one, the king's

daughter Ariadne, succeeds in killing

the beast. She had provided him with

a magic sword and a thread. Without

that, he would probably still stick today

in that labyrinth in Crete.

You can play with the cards in two different ways.

Firstly of course after the usual rules of the game

of tarot. But it is much more thrilling to follow

Provoost's idea and his numbering in the top right

corner. You then spread the cards in a long series

from 1 to 78 and experience a dynamic sequence

of dense, lively scenes in which you would like

to sink.

MinotarotFor each card – the 22 trumps with their traditional

French names also – is like a dramatic stage set. Its

endless depth dwindles into the black while the

scenery at the front flashes under the spotlight.

Provoost cannot just deny that he was an architect

at first. He brilliantly controls the interaction be-

tween deep black and cloudy greyish tints.

Bright colors are only minimally repre-

sented: red in the suit-signs of hearts

and diamonds and its russet variant

on the entrance portal to the

labyrinth. And then the main actors!

Their quite stout bodies skip on tiptoes

through the decor. The figures move with such a

grace as if gravity had been suspended. The joined

booklet tells card after card more about the sym-

bolism, it describes the pictures and how to inter-

pret the cards.

2.000 copies only have been printed in offset litho-

graphy. This one is no. 1138 and it carries – quite

rare – the artist's signature.

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LA COUR GALANTE„The gallant court“ is the name of a vividly

colored deck based on woodcuts by Costante

Costantini from 1979. The Italian publisher

Vito Arienti has issued it in a limited edition

of 2.000 packs in 1980. And because the text

on the wrapper is embossed, you can really

sense the strong mark of the original graphic.

Yet the cards printed in offset lithography

must of course pass on that. The figures

though, because of their simplified design

with bold black outlines, typical for this kind

of woodcut, appear immensely present and

vital. The word „gallant“ in the title misleads

a bit. No gallant wheedling at all here. They

get to the point, uninhibited and concrete.

Love games with variations. A deck in a lim-

ited edition. This is no. 772 out of 2000.

The artist Costante Costantini, born in 1921,

originally studied agriculture and forestry in

Firenze. Could his predilection for woodcut

come from there? However, he switched to

the Fine Arts and took lessons in Bologna,

Firenze and Paris. From 1958 till 1960, he

was a master student of the Austrian expres-

sionist Oskar Kokoschka at the Summer

Academy in Salzburg. Costante Costantini

advanced rapidly to a renowned painter, il-

lustrator and author, won a series of prizes and was represented at high-level exhibitions like the Biennale

Internazionale della Grafica d'Arte in Firenze. Costantini died suddenly in the city where he was born,

in Firenze, on December 1, 2006.

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"ARF A MO KAISER!"Quite naturally, each one heeds the front side when

looking at a deck of cards. But the present

deck by the „Card Mak- ers to His Majesty King

George V. etc. etc.“ in London is noticeable

above all for its backs. For it shows an English sol-

dier in full gear, a „Tommy“, as he just

lights up his pipe. The flames of the fight are al-

ready flaring in the back- ground, but he keeps his

temper. With us viewers in his sights, he takes self-

consciously smiling all the time in the world – for his

pipe. "Arf a Mo Kaiser!" is set in handwritten cap-

ital letters in the bottom left corner, which means

something like „Wait a moment, Kaiser“. The

German emperor is meant here, who, among

others, was also fighting against England. That

motif – the Tommy who apparently cannot be

shaken by anything –, was penned by the British illustrator and caricaturist Bert Thomas. He had

sketched this cartoon for some kind of a support fund in the first months after the outbreak of war, and

it became a hit. It was published in the "Weekly Dispatch" as a part of the campaign "Tobacco-for-

troops fund" on November 11, 1914 – the very same day when the war ended in 1918! The action raised

250.000 pounds. And nationwide fame to Bert Thomas – not to mention the increase in sales for the to-

bacco industry.

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BARALLA FETA A MA. ELS NAIPS SON PINTATS UN PER UN I ES LA SIMPLIFICACIÕ DEL OROS, COPES ESPASES

I BASTOS

Artesania del Naip 2011

„Geometrica“ is the name that Catalan artist JosepSoriano has adopted for his artwork in pocket size.

Indeed the motifs in this deck are very straight- lined and downright minimalistic. As a matter of

fact, "Simplificaciõ" was Soriano's leitmotiv. And so, he reduced the suit signs to the maxi-

mum: the cups are plain triangles in red, the swords thick, blue dashes, the coins circular

stains in reddish orange and the clubs el- lipses in green. Particularly original are the

court cards. Jacks, cavaliers and kings ac- tually are just vague outlines, so to say like

negative forms. And the two jokers cu- riously are a seahorse in front of a com-

pass and a manikin with a jelly bag cap popping off with cup and coin.

Admitted – a bit enigmatic. But diverting to look at. Josep Soriano

likes to use stencils that in- evitably give sharp contours to

the figures and motifs. And as he dabs the paints rich and

deep on highly smooth, glinting cardboard, he cre-

ates a three-dimensonial effect. Which you can not

only see, but also feel. And apropos, he has

signed the 6 of coins and the 5 of clubs.

And a signed title card is also joined.

Josep Soriano is a well-known Spanish designer of playing cards. But each one of his decks has its own

charisma. That is why we shall certainly meet him more often.

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BARAJA

GEOMETRIC

A

SORIANO

BRIGIDA BÖTTCHER

You could gaze upon each card for hours and completely forget

the time. For Boettcher's etchings and aquatints are filled with life.

Her cards tell stories. Each single card on its own and all cards of

a suit together a distinct one. Stories of passion and pleasure, long-

ing and desire, and this in a friendly red, which of course stands

for the hearts. As Brigida Boettcher uses German suit signs, acorns

also appear, in a muted blue. This time, we see – spread as always

over eight cards – snapshots of the quest for happiness, obviously

not really crowned with success. Or do we look at it the wrong

way? Everybody will cer-

tainly find his own reading.

This makes it so thrilling.

The leaves in a soft green

definitely play outdoors.

And the bells mutate

through Brigida Boettcher's

hands in light balls that re-

quire a challenging contest,

or just bring cheer in the

shape of a balloon. Some-

times the scenes are exceedingly dynamic, sometimes they are pen-

sive like still lifes. And many a character seems so realistic that you

could almost mean, that is our neighbour.

By the way, Brigida Boettcher, born in 1952, was a master student

of Professor Bernhard Heisig at the Academy for Visual Arts

Leipzig (Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig). It was him

that Helmut Schmidt choosed as a portrayer for the Gallery of the

former German chancellors.

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Eric Provoost, Paris. Minotarot. Design: Eric Provoost (born in 1947). 78 + EC, complete. Offset, 121x72 mm, square corners, 1 French index

mark. Backs: Round labyrinth, white on ochre background. 1982.

Lit.: Kaplan III 354-356.

The story of Theseus, Ariadne and Minotaur serves as a basis for this prophetic deck. Numbered copy, signed by the author (edition of 2,000). Slightly rubbed OCase, booklet of rules (French - English, 48 pp.), mint.

US$ 297.00 € 220,-

Edizioni del Solleone di Vito Arienti, Lissone (Milano). La Cour Galante. Design: Costante Costantini, Firenze (1921-2006).

52 + JJ (all different) + title card, complete. Offset, 96x62 mm, round corners, no index mark. Backs: Crowned arms of the Medici, surrounded by

angels.

Maker’s name on 2 of Hearts. 1980.

Lit.: Braun 2135; Eroticism I 3.8.

Numbered edition of 2,000 decks. Min. damaged OCase, mint.

US$ 47.00 € 35,-

Thomas De La Rue & Co. Ltd., London. „ARF A MO, KAISER!“ Playing Cards. 52 (joker missing?) + another ace of spades as „Spec-

imen Card“ with a cut off corner + a card advertising „ONOTO THE PEN“. Color line block, 90x62 mm, round corners, 2 English index marks. Backs:

British soldier lights up his pipe, in brown.

Maker’s name on Ace of Spades. Duty Ace of Spades (3 Pence, 1862-1960). 1914.

Lit.: Lodge [2010] p. 58 No. D6.1.

Damaged ill. OBox, slightly worn.

US$ 128.00 € 95,-

Artesania del Naip, Igualada. Baraja Geometrica. Design: Josep Soriano. 40 + JJ (all different) + title card, complete. Stencil-colored,91x64 mm, square corners, no index mark. Backs: Plain white. 2011.

Small edition. Ill. OCase, almost mint.

US$ 162.00 € 120,-

Brigida Böttcher, Leipzig. Design: Brigida Böttcher (born in 1952). 32, complete. Etching and aquatint on paper, 140x96 mm, square cor-

ners, 1 or 2 German index marks. Backs: Plain white. 1989.

Each card is signed in pencil by the artist and labelled „1/2 /IV“. Handwritten dedication in pencil by the artist on the inside of the lid,dated from 1989. In the original cloth-bound box, almost mint.

US$ 743.00 € 550,-

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