Light and Shadow means first of all the contrast between black and white. The linoleum cut artwork is sharp and clear, and while dots or hatching techniques (parallel or tick hatching) can break up the black areas and give an illusion of grey, this deck is starkly black and white. It is built from light and shadow, and it deals with light and shadow.
You can see the magical effect of this material and technique on the Moon card. All the well-known elements from RWS tradition Moon cards are there - the Moon, towers, dog, wolf and crabfish. And yet, it looks to me as though I had never seen this card before.
One reason for the visual power of the medium is the sheer physical effort it takes to carve the linoleum. It's easy to draw a line with a pen, but it's not so easy to carve a line from lino, knowing that this line will be white, not dark, when printed. That's why wood and lino cut have a certain roughness, a nearly primitive effect seeked out by the German Expressionists and French artists like Gauguin. In these prints, there is no superfluous line or dot. The artist takes full responsibility for each trace he leaves on the lino. And the prints show it.
From an artistic point of view, this deck is undoubtedly among the very top in my little collection, and in tarot art in general.
Look how the reserved lady from the 9 of Pentacles bursts forth, her bird becomes a phoenix, the pentacles are sunflowers, and only then you see that she's still in her garden, behind her fence. But her energy makes us forget that. I've never seen a more energetic 9 of Pentacles.
This King of Swords is another powerhouse. He reminds me a bit of Gericault's Chasseur (1812),
with the contained power and willingness to attack. He also looks exotic with his outfit, a bit like a warrior - like a fairytale figure, on a white horse, fighting for what he believes in.
Yes, this is the King, not the Knight - you can see a Thoth influence in the male court cards. They are called King and Prince, but the Kings look like Thoth Knights, and the Princes like Thoth Princes.
The cards are large (14x11 cm), have a wide white border with a black thin frame broken by the card name on bottom, and the card number (for minors and majors in Roman numerals) on top.
The font on the cards is a tiny bit too fancy for my taste, I like the characters used in the book better. Well, they don't compete with the images for attention, that's good.
One weak point is the cardstock - I didn't notice that before I started reading deck reviews on the Internet and everybody asked, raved or complained about cardstock. Now I notice it myself, and it's a bit on the flimsy and plasticky side. It feels okay, not too smooth, but a bit too thin, and with a more paper-like texture (like the 1st edition of the Wild Unknown...), the power of the print technique would have emerged better. But the artwork has enough presence to make you forget that the cardstock could have been better. It's not a big deal and certainly no dealbreaker.
The book is wonderful. What else could a book written by Brian Williams be?
Art and tarot meet here, this is not a series of illustrations based on somebody else's art, but a real procession of creation. And Williams understands it.
All the cards are treated the same - well, some majors get more text than some minors, but the approach is quite balanced. There is a short chapter at the end of the book that tells us more about Goepferd's life and work, and gives examples of non-tarot prints he made. They're all very good and powerful.
The cardbacks are an interesting composition of the four suit elements in four hands, hardly contained in the strong black frame. It's as if the four Aces jumped on you all at once. It's non-reversible (which has never disturbed me but I know many people prefer reversible backs).
There is so much vitality, imagination and potential in this deck. In readings, I find it empowering and encouraging. In spite of its strongly contrasting black-and-white esthetic, this deck can give nuanced readings. I like to use it in small readings - the book shows the Celtic Cross but that would be too much for me. Each card speaks so strongly that for me, it works best in three-to-four card spreads. That's a matter of taste of course.
It also works well for affirmations.
Goepferd's Death card is one of the most beautiful I know. Haunting, stark, but with an element of hope and rebirth. This deck is a tribute to two talented artists, and I hope it won't be forgotten.