About the Byzantine Tarot and byzantine art

[Nemia]

Oh, I didn'nt know it's OOP. It's a great deck. I love Byzantine art and I think Conway made a decent job of it. She "translated" mostly mosaics to tempera paintings; some character got lost but all in all, she caught some of the spirit of Byzantine art. It's too Westernized, though, especially compared to the Golden Tarot of the Tsar which uses "authentic" illumination techniques (and accordingly looks much less attractive to Western eyes). The Byzantine is a great deck, and I hope that a new edition will fix the technical problems: too shiny and thick cardstock that warps a bit.

One example for the "Westernization":

compare this card

with the source for the image, the well-known Ravenna mosaic in San Vitale, of Emperor Justinian

It's easy to see that the figure was taken from this mosaic, it's the guy standing at the emperor's right elbow (to his left from our point of view).

Can you see how the artist added just a tiny bit of shadow to the chest, some details to the sleeves, to make them more three-dimensional, realistic and satisfying to the modern eye? And she added undulating landscape under the stretched-out feet to "anchor" the guy on the ground - most Byzantine art has this strange, gravity-defying quality where people seem to levitate from the tips of their toes.

This is no criticism, just the opposite. With subtle technique, the artist allowed the modern, Western eye to find access to Byzantine art.

Considering not only style but also content and substance - Matthews/Conway approach Orthodox Christianity critically, as outsiders who don't reserve a place of privilege to Christian mythologies or ideologies. There is in many tarot decks a non-dogmatic, sometimes subtly subversive undercurrent (Robert Place also constructs decks that undercut Christianity from within Christian iconography, in the Saints Tarot for example).

Atanassov is Bulgarian and has a completely different relationship to the Orthodox Church, his Golden Deck of the Tsar is created from "within".

I hope I'll have a bit time later to dig a bit deeper - both decks are interesting and I'm glad I have both.

[Joan Marie]

The Golden Deck of the Tsar is beautiful. It's so unfortunate though about the frame and the multi-lingual text.
The frames are one of the things I love about the Byzantine.

Thanks for this Nemia. I love the trained eye you have for helping us understand better what we are seeing.

[Venus Rising]

Just wanted to chime in that the Byzantine Tarot is being reprinted, and will be available in October 2020, according to Schiffer Publishing/Red Feather’s Fall/Winter catalogue.

[Parzival]

I have this one. I think the artist does a good job, but there is sometimes, in the minors, too strong a line around a shape, not so unusual in Tarot art, and the background buildings are somewhat simplified. I like the intricate, symmetric borders. The majors are superb, such as the star, moon, and sun, a beautiful triad. To me, this is a good set of cards for the Byzantine culture. Is it detailed, complex enough for its cultural milieu? Does it read well for meditations and divinations?