Publisher: Lo Scarabeo, 2005

ISBN: 888395459-9

Box: 78-card tarot deck 66×120 mm with LWB



Other Decks by Atanassov: [ Bosch Tarot ] [ Golden Tarot of the Tsar ]
[ Visconti Tarot ]


Graphics by Pietro Alligo

Instructions by Bepi Vigna

Translations by Studio RGE

Art Tarot: Collection edited by Pietro Alligo; diffusion and marketing: Mario Pignatiello

Beware the ‘Golden Tarot of Klimt‘, open it only under cover of darkness otherwise the lovely stamped hot-gold will catch the sunlight and you’ll temporarily blind the whole neighbourhood! A slight exaggeration, but it’s just so darn pretty and glittery! Not to mention cool as the cards are on a black background making the gold much more intense.

The artist Gustav Klimt lived and worked in Vienna until his death in 1918, and inspired the artwork for this deck and A. A. Atanassov has managed to capture Klimt’s style,[ from what I’ve seen of the latter’s work], admirably, though I’m no expert.

However, I can tell you that Klimt was part of the Art Noveau movement, and apparently a bit of a rebel despite being ‘[s]hy and suffering from depression‘, [Boheme Magazine Online - An Eye on Art - IV]. He rejected the old traditions and aimed to express the human sprit’s penchant for decadence in his art. He also portrayed people in their natural form from all walks of life, and not just the pretty ones, which caused some flack. Klimt’s work was considered erotic and at one point he was even accused of pornography for painting nudes, though he became highly respected. [For more information on Atanassov’s muse see the Gustav Klimt entry at Wikipedia].

Lo Scarabeo have also done the deck proud, which is just as well as it costs neigh on £20, though you’ll be happy to know I got mine via a bulk order with TABI which brought the price down quite a bit, but I would have saved my pennies and bought it anyway!

The box is a treat too, utilising no less than six card images. This really is a luxury deck, and looking through it you can clearly see the hard work throughout, from the art to the presentation and packaging.

On the spine of the box it says, ‘The Art of the Tarot takes shape, inspired by the work of Gustav Klimt‘, and Bepi Vigna who wrote the instructions for the deck, [so I’m assuming I can credit the following quote to him] talks about how well Klimt’s work merges with tarot:

[LWB. p. 5]

Lay all the cards out on the floor in front of you, and you get a lovely tarot mosaic. If I had a spare deck, the room, and the money I’d frame the whole deck and hang it on my wall, but not near a window!

Atanassov really has done a wonderful job on the artwork, and most people will recognise the graphic from the back of the box [from ‘The Lovers’ card], as a version of Klimt’s ‘The Kiss’ which I first came across on an episode of ‘Rolf on Art‘.

Another thing about the deck is that it’s textured, that’s what comes from been stamped with hot-gold, making the cards nice to touch. Spinning off into fantasyland, it’d be lovely if Lo Scarabeo made a wooden tarot box just for me that matches the cardboard box the deck came in

Of course it’s not all perfect, there are some seriously scary figures, like the psycho lady wandering about with a man’s head in her hand in the Strength card. Speaking of which, in this deck Strength is 11 and Justice 8, not my favourite numbering but I can live with it.

The scariest cards from the Major Arcana are ‘The Fool‘, ‘The Hermit‘ and ‘Strength‘, they all feature gaunt figures, the former two are naked men, almost stick figures they’re so thin, and you already know about the psycho lady in the Strength card! As it turns out the Strength card is based on Klimt’s, ‘Judith I‘ painted in 1901. Klimt also painted a second version of his Judith who was ‘The Old Testament heroine who saved the city of Bethulia from the Assyrians is holding the head of Holofernes.‘ [Wikipedia]

My favourite cards start with, strangely enough for me, ‘The Hierophant‘, this is not usually one I’d pick, then ‘The Lovers‘, ‘The Chariot‘, ‘The Wheel‘ [so much gorgeous gold on this one], ‘Death‘, ‘The Devil‘ [has the cutest evil looking fuzz ball I’ve seen in a long while], and ‘The Moon‘ which has a lovely dreamy quality to it.

And Klimt’s ‘Beethoven Frieze‘ seems to have been the inspiration for several cards, including the two figures on The Sun card ‘A Kiss for the Whole World (detail from the Beethoven Frieze) painted in 1902‘ [Art of Klimt] and the The Devil ‘The Monster Typhoeus, Unchastity, Lust and Gluttony (detail from the Beethoven Frieze)‘ [Art of Klimt]. There are more you can discover for yourself if you like.

The Minors have their fair share of great looking cards too, making it hard to choose a suit as my overall favourite, but after pouring over each suit and picking out my favourite cards the Pentacles just win out with 6 cards, including the 4, 7 and Knave/Page of Pentacles.

In the Court Cards ‘The Queen of Cups‘ stands out and reminds me of the actress Sigourney Weaver, the Knave/Page and King of Cups have an Egyptian feel to them as does the 4, 6 and 9 of the suit, but it’s hardly surprising that this comes out in Atanassov’s work as Egypt was one of Klimt’s influences along with Minoan, Classical Greek, Byzantine, the engravings of Albrecht Dürer, late medieval European painting and Japanese Ukiyo-e.

This diversity happens here and there throughout the deck, but even so it’s still in harmony and all the cards work well together, even the few that have a more pastel look and feel to them as compared to the gold and striking figures.

The little white book [LWB] is short and to the point and looks as if Atanassov, or whoever put the deck together from the artwork, has decided on Wands as Air and Swords as Fire. I prefer my associations the other way around, but what can you do? It’s certainly not a good enough reason to ignore this deck if it flashes its glittery bits at you

[LWB. p. 11]

[LWB. p. 12]

Card descriptions are basic, for example, the 3 of Pentacles ‘Artistic talent, success, recognition.’ with reversed meanings in italics, ‘Obstacles, inability to assert oneself, unfortunate circumstances‘, [LWB. p. 9] and the 10 of Swords, ‘conflict, resolution, drastic decision, sacrifice, catharsis‘ and reversed ‘Affliction, pain, lacking of affection, inability to forget.‘ [LWB. p. 12].

The backs of the cards are reversible and nice, but not as nice as the fronts, and there’s no hot-gold pressed into them. The LWB only contains one spread, but it looks interesting and uses 13 cards, ‘The circle of faults and virtues‘ [LWB. p. 13].

On a side note if you’re interested, courtesy of Wikipedia again, ‘Raoul Ruiz has directed a biopic, Klimt, starring John Malkovich in the title role which is expected to be released in late 2005′ and to see more of Klimt’s work visit Gustav Klimt: the most comprehensive resource online which is the source of the graphics linked above.

This is a wonderful and interesting deck and I’d recommend it to any collector, but if you’re easily offended, or don’t want nudity with your tarot reading, stuff cotton wool in your ears to help you ignore its siren call.