Layout 2 - Cartorama

No. 2
NEWSLETTER
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
was declaimed for the first time.
“Parlement of Birddes” was its name,
Richard II. It is believed that it was
there when Geoffrey Chaucer's poem
and it is about the search for a mate.
No wonder that it created a furor. By
calendars of the world. Red like love!
Therefore we shift this time the focus
all means certain is that since that
of our newsletter towards card decks
topic. Admittedly, this was not that
day the date is marked in red on all
that deal with that ancient, ageless
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?
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Valentine's Day – the day of love
©CARTORAMA Jean Darquenne & Angela Joschko
Minotarot
Minotarot
„Minotarot“, the card deck by Eric Provoost, is a For each card – the 22 trumps with their traditional
masterpiece by the French illustrator from the year French names also – is like a dramatic stage set. Its
1982. Provoost relates in insistent pictures on 78 endless depth dwindles into the black while the
cards the myth of Minotaur, that man-eating mon- scenery at the front flashes under the spotlight.
ster, half human, half bull, captive in the labyrinth Provoost cannot just deny that he was an architect
of King Minos in Crete. It is also a story of love at first. He brilliantly controls the interaction bewith 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.
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
You can play with the cards in two different ways. through the decor. The figures move with such a
Firstly of course after the usual rules of the game grace as if gravity had been suspended. The joined
of tarot. But it is much more thrilling to follow booklet tells card after card more about the symProvoost's idea and his numbering in the top right bolism, it describes the pictures and how to intercorner. You then spread the cards in a long series pret the cards.
from 1 to 78 and experience a dynamic sequence 2.000 copies only have been printed in offset litho-
of dense, lively scenes in which you would like graphy. This one is no. 1138 and it carries – quite
to sink.
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rare – the artist's signature.
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 limited 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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Quite naturally, each one
looking at a deck of
deck by the „Card MakGeorge V. etc. etc.“ in
above all for its backs. For
dier in full gear, a
lights up his pipe. The
ready flaring in the backtemper. With us viewers
consciously smiling all the
pipe. "Arf a Mo Kaiser!"
ital letters in the bottom
something like „Wait a
German
emperor
is
others, was also fighting
motif – the Tommy who
"ARF A MO KAISER!"
heeds the front side when
cards. But the present
ers to His Majesty King
London is noticeable
it shows an English sol-
„Tommy“, as he just
flames of the fight are al-
ground, but he keeps his
in his sights, he takes self-
time in the world – for his
is set in handwritten cap-
left corner, which means
moment, Kaiser“. The
meant here, who, among
against England. That
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 tobacco 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 Josep Soriano has adopted for his artwork in pocket size.
Indeed the motifs in this deck are very straightfact, "Simplificaciõ" was Soriano's leitmotiv.
court cards. Jacks, cavaliers and kings ac-
ates a three-dimensonial
BA
deep on highly smooth,
only see, but also feel.
cap popping off with cup and coin.
diverting to look at. Josep Soriano
evitably give sharp contours to
he dabs the paints rich and
RA
the figures and motifs. And as
JA
likes to use stencils that in-
riously are a seahorse in front of a com-
A
Admitted – a bit enigmatic. But
tually are just vague outlines, so to say like
RIC
pass and a manikin with a jelly bag
lipses in green. Particularly original are the
ET
negative forms. And the two jokers cu-
swords thick, blue dashes, the coins circular
OM
stains in reddish orange and the clubs el-
And so, he reduced the suit signs to the maxi-
GE
mum: the cups are plain triangles in red, the
lined and downright minimalistic. As a matter of
SORIANO
signed the 6 of coins
And a signed title card is also joined.
glinting cardboard, he cre-
effect. Which you can not
And apropos, he has
and the 5 of clubs.
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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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 require 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 „Specimen 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 corners, 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,-
CARTORAMA
Schlossgasse 1 • D - 99837 Dankmarshausen• Tel. +49 36922 439750 • Mobile +49 176 32841412
Email: cartorama@cartorama.de • Internet: www.cartorama.de
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