Pamela Coleman Smith (History of the Artist who Designed the Rider Waite Tarot Deck of Cards by helela

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Corinne Pamela Colman Smith was born on February 16, 1878 in London to Charles Smith and
Corinne Colman. Both parents came from prominent American families.
Charles Smith's family was in trade and law, with interests in art and
collecting. He was related to the actor, William Gillette, through whom
PCS may have met Ellen Terry and the rest of the theatre crowd. Corinne
Colman's family was artistic and mystical, with several notable
painters. Corinne herself was a parlor actress. All the women in her
family seem to be named Pamela, Pamelia, or Corinne which makes things
difficult to sort out.
Corinne Colman and Charles Smith married in 1870 when Charles was 24
and Corinne was 34. They may have met through the decorating firm that
Charles worked for or through their, both, avid theatre-going. They were
childless for the first eight years of their marriage and where they
lived is unknown, though trips to England and Jamaica probably happened
because of Charles' work. PCS was their only child.
Charles is mentioned as artistic, not practical, and not good with
money, as PCS will come to be described. His obituary states he was at
one time an upholstery manufacturer in Manchester, England, and later
went to Jamaica where he was engaged in railroad building.
Charles and Corinne lived in Manchester for the first 10 years of PCS'
life. this area was still a hotbed of spiritualism and radical thought
and was probably an influence on PCS. The family moved to Jamaica around
1889 when PCS was 10, and lived there for several years. Here is where
PCS learned the folklore that was an important part of her life from her
nurse.
In 1893 PCS enrolled in the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, a
co-educational, progressive school. The school emphasized "manual
training" which educated the whole person - creatively, intellectually,
and morally. Artists were not an elite but vibrant, creative,
contributing members of society. Also here, PCS came under the influence
of Arthur Wesley Dow. Dow was influenced by Japanese art and taught
that pictures could be composed the same way music was composed by using
color, tone, shape, and line - much more abstract than imitative
drawing. Art also had a spiritual content that reflected the Master
Artist and the harmony woven into the substance of the world. Art was
social and spiritual. Art could change the world. Emotion and ideas
could be expressed indirectly but meaningfully in visual art by drawing
or painting synaesthetically using a harmony of colored spaces.
Synaesthesia involves the crossing-over of sensory signals - hearing
colors, seeing sounds, smelling music or words, etc. We all have this to
some degree but PCS became famous for her artworks inspired by music.
The music painting were directly channeled by listening to performances
and drawing unconsciously. She often stated that if she paid attention
to the drawing, she lost the image.
Dow's influence on her commercial artwork is very apparent up to around
1900. What appears simple, decorative, and childlike is actually very
sophisticated. Nothing like her work had been seen in America up to that
time.
PCS is often classified as a Symbolist. Symbolist art was a significant
trend in the fin de siècle (end of the 1800s). It is difficult to
firmly categorize this movement but there are some common features:
• The reaction against the dominant materialist, naturalist, and
determinist ethos of the epoch
• A focus on the internal, symbolical world rather than the external,
empirical one - introspection rather than observation; suggestive rather
than nominative
• A highly individualized execution
• Personal and enigmatic visions and mystical themes expressed through
private symbol rather than public, consensual allegory or metaphor
• Ideographic content over purely formal statements reflecting the
primacy of spirit, soul, or imagination
• The femme fatale is often a primary figure, either as dangerous woman
or mysterious woman or powerful woman
Symbolism was a reaction against the materialist heritage of the fin de
siècle. It is often confused with the earlier Romanticism, but that was
a reaction against the rationalist heritage of the Age of
Enlightenment.
PCS spent from 1893 to 1897 at the Pratt, on and off. She had frequent
absences due to illness and at the end of it all, did not graduate. In
1896, her mother died while the family was in Jamaica.
In 1897, when she was 19, she had a feature exhibition, along with
Robert Henri, at William Macbeth's gallery. The show was reviewed in the
NY Times. Four of her watercolors sold.
1899 was the wonder year for PCS. She published four books, three of
which were hers entirely. The Golden Vanity/Green Bed, Widdicombe Fair,
and Annancy Stories were all her work. The first two were limited
editions with hand-colored prints. Annancy Stories consisted of Jamaican
folk tales with line drawings. The fourth book to which she contributed
color plates and line drawings was In Chimney Corners by Seamus
MacManus. She toured with the Lyceum Company that year also. She and her
father met John Butler Yeats, Willie's father, in the summer. In
December, her father died.

The Lyceum Theatre was based in London and run by the actor, manager
Henry Irving, the first actor to be knighted. Irving was a very
prominent actor in the Victorian era when spectacle or spectacular
theatre was popular. These were massive stage productions with the cast
of hundreds, historically accurate details galore, and a total
experience for the audience. They were rather like today's special
effects extravaganzas in movies where the plot or characters sometimes
are lost in the crowd. Irving, however, was noted for restraint and
taste along with a keen sense of staging, especially lighting. PCS spent
several years touring and working with this company where she helped
with costume design and stage design. These things are especially
evident in her Tarot deck where each card is a complex vignette meant to
convey a particular meaning. She also learned how to research.
The leading lady with this theatre company was Ellen Terry, the highest
paid actress of the times. She was a formidable presence and noted for
her charm. PCS lived with her for a time and became fast and lifelong
friends with her daughter Edith Craig (Edy). Terry carried on a famous
correspondence with Bernard Shaw which is available in a book. She led a
wide and varied life, coming from a theatre family, and had several
marriages, two children out of wedlock (the son Gordon Craig became a
famous stage designer and character in his own right), yet still managed
to remain admired by the general public. There are several books on her
(and Irving) that are worth reading. The picture to the right is a
sketch by PCS and shows Terry as Ellaline from The Amber Heart. Ellen
Terry is the person who named PCS Pixie.
Another member of the Lyceum Theatre was its business manager, Bram
Stoker. This was his day job when he wasn't writing novels, including
Dracula. He was a popular person with the cast and crew and was
affectionately known as 'Uncle Bramy.' PCS illustrated his last novel,
Lair of the White Worm. The illustration to the left shows PCS, Edy, and
Uncle Bramy. The picture is a reworking of one of the prints from
Golden Vanity. Some claim that the character of Dracula was basely
loosely on Henry Irving.
In 1900, PCS illustrated a souvenir booklet for her cousin, William
Gillette, the first stage and radio Sherlock Holmes. Much of what we
know as the regalia of Holmes was set by Gillette including the dressing
gown, the pipe, the tobacco in a slipper, and the deerstalker hat.
In 1901, PCS joined the The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an
occult society. William Butler Yeats and Arthur Edward Waite were also
members, along with Aleister Crowley and a host of others. PCS took the
motto of Quod tibi id alliis, whatever you would have done to thee, do
unto others. Also in this year, Queen Victoria died and Edward VII
became king. Society changed radically as a breath of fresh air blew in
and removed so many of the restraints and habits of the previous times.
Around the early 1900s, PCS begins to have visions and paint her 'music
paintings.' She was gifted with a high degree of synaesthesia - she
'saw' music and was able to transmit those visions into tangible
artworks. Synaesthesia is a crossing-over of sensory input. You 'hear'
colors or 'see' music or 'smell' words and so on. We all have this to
some extent. It is part of our memory and recall process. PCS developed
this synaesthesia to a high degree and her work is compelling, not for
the actual images but for what they imply. Reading the titles to her
various paintings, you are forced to wonder where in the piece of music
she found the images she did. And, also wonder, what else she saw that
did not make it onto the page. She embodied the Symbolist ideal in this
area.
In 1902, she worked with Jack Yeats on A Broad Sheet. This periodical
contained original art and literature. This inspired her to create her
own version which she started in 1903 as The Green Sheaf. This venture
included contributors such as WB Yeats, Christopher St John (Christabel
Marshall), Cecil French, AE (George William Russell), Gordon Craig,
Dorothy Ward, and John Todhunter. It ran for only one year. As in many
things, PCS' vision did not transmit into practical, economic success.
Both A Broad Sheet (which ran through 1903) and The Green Sheaf were
attempts at a small periodical, finely crafted. The terrors of mass
production concerned many people who felt that the beauty of life and
art was evaporating under the pressure to get more 'stuff' to more
people. This is a concern we still face today - quality vs quantity -
having a lot of stuff vs having a few nice (expensive) things. The Arts
and Crafts Movement, both in England and America, tried to address this
issue. Nowadays, the artifacts from that movement command high prices,
so in a sense, that venture failed. Technology seemed to be driving out
Art.
Also in 1903 PCS had an exhibition at John Baillie's gallery in London.
This was an Arts and Crafts specialty shop. She also joined The
Masquers, organized by Walter Crane, which was dedicated to a 'Theatre
of Beauty.' This group disbanded several months later without
accomplishing anything.
In 1904, PCS follows Arthur Waite to the Independent and Rectified Rite
of the Golden Dawn (or Holy Order of the Golden Dawn). The original
Golden Dawn had splintered due to personality conflicts and conflicting
visions of what the organization should be (and of course, who was in
charge). PCS is a member of the Stage Society at this point and, with
Edith Craig, designed the set for WB Yeats' play Where There is Nothing.
Back in New York, on November 25, 1905, Alfred Stieglitz opened his
gallery 291 on Fifth Avenue. More correctly, this is called The Little
Galleries of the Photo-Secession. Stieglitz was at the forefront of
photography and set high standards. His own photos are still considered
some of the finest ever made. He also became one of the prime movers in
the modern art movement, bringing the radically evolving works to the
notice of people in America, whether they wanted it or not. In late
December of 1906, PCS walked into this gallery with a portfolio of her
work. There were problems in getting a Rodin exhibition mounted so,
Stieglitz gave PCS a one-woman show, the first show by a
non-photographer at the gallery. He was very impressed with her
'primitivism,' and the whole mystical process of her music paintings.
They seemed to express "Truth" on paper, and "Truth" was being actively
sought by many artists. It probably did not hurt that PCS dropped some
names, WB Yeats, Arthur Symons, Ellen Terry. The first ten days of the
exhibition were very lightly attended. Then, a review appeared in the
New York Sun by James Gibbons Honeker that was full of praise. The
gallery filled with people and several paintings were sold. Stieglitz
took photographs of 22 of the paintings and issued a platinum print
portfolio edition of only seven sets.
PCS had two more exhibits at 291, one in late February of 1908 with
Willi Geiger and Donald Shaw MacLaughlin, and another solo exhibit in
mid-March of 1909 - drawings in monochrome and color. The group
exhibition was largely ignored. PCS gave a recital of West Indian
nursery rhymes and chanted ballads at the opening of her third
exhibition.
There is a letter from PCS to Steiglitz dated November 19, 1909
announcing that she just finished doing a set of 80 drawings for a Tarot
deck for very little money. She offered to send over the original
drawings for him to sell and hinted that she needed money. But nothing
apparently came of that.
So why did Stieglitz not help PCS? At this point in time he was moving
on with American modernist painters. PCS had for some time allied
herself with England (she did not like Americans). And, probably more
importantly, her work was not what Stieglitz was interested in
promoting. More exciting things were happening on the art fronts and PCS
was a throw-back to an earlier time, synaesthesia and music paintings
notwithstanding. Her execution did not develop into the cutting-edge
experimentation that was rampant. Works by Matisse, Gauguin, Lautrec,
Picasso, Brancusi, Rodin, and others were beginning to be exhibited in
America. Stieglitz was developing several American artists also such as
Marin, Delauney, Hartley. And, Stieglitz always claimed that his
galleries were not marketplaces. He did not promote the sale of artworks
and required buyers to 'qualify' for a piece of work. Money was not the
answer; Desire and understanding were the answers. Pieces sold at the
gallery, but it was not something on which an artist could depend. Her
work fell by the wayside, as did many artists. She lost a primary
cheerleader and exposure.
Back to this Tarot deck. In December of 1909, Rider and Son published a
new Tarot deck, conceived by Arthur Edward Waite and executed by PCS.
Until that time, Tarot decks were rare, especially in England. They had
to be imported from France and were mostly of the Marseille type. The
great innovation of this new Tarot deck was its pictorial evocative
Minor cards, those numbered one through ten. These cards now had scenes
to illustrate meanings and not just four cups or seven swords. The
advert to the left is from the January 1910 copy of The Occult Review.
This is one of the first (and many) times that PCS' name will be
misspelled - Coleman not Colman. The deck was intended to be a
mass-market deck but with occult overtones. Waite was not letting all
the secrets out. It has been the most influential deck of the modern
times. Many decks are merely redressings of this one. The most important
influence was in those illustrated Minor cards. The deck is still in
production in a modified form as the Rider Tarot© or the Rider Waite
Tarot©.
Also in 1909, PCS joined the Suffrage Atelier in London working for the
vote for women. She contributed posters and other artwork to the cause.
Below is one of the postcards, signed PS as she did for these items..
The Suffrage Atelier joined women and men together to produce media for
the movement. Posters, postcards, programs, banners, all these things
emphasized the need for women to get the vote.
And in 1909, PCS began to study for her conversion to Catholicism which
took place in 1911.
In 1911, The Pioneer Players were formed by Edith Craig and PCS was a
member. This group put on independent theatre programs, a theatre of
ideas, though they have been often lumped in with feminist ideals. This
was not quite true as actually more plays be men than women were
presented. The group ran through WW1 (one of only two independent groups
to do so) and after a break, hosted its last performance in 1925. The
picture at the right is from a 1915 charity performance of Evreinov's
play The Theatre of the Soul.
1911 also saw the publication of The Pictorial Key to the Tarot which
now included PCS line art for the Tarot deck. This book is still in
print under many titles and by many publishers.
In 1912, Gustave Stickley's Arts and Crafts magazine, The Craftsman,
published an article on PCS by M Irwin MacDonald titled "The Fairy Faith
and Pictured Music of Pamela Colman Smith." This article was
illustrated with many painting and drawings by her.
In 1913, Ellen Terry wrote The Russian Ballet, illustrated by PCS with
many line drawings that give a good sense of the movement of dance,
especially from this renowned company. She also exhibited at the
Exposition Universelle et International in Ghent. I have no information
on the details of this last part.
1914 saw the publication of The Book of Friendly Giants by Eunice
Fuller with many line drawings by PCS. This is the latest date for
anything I have by PCS.
In 1918, PCS gets a legacy from an uncle and moves to Parc Garland, The
Lizard, in Cornwall where she tries to run a retreat house for priests.
This venture is not successful.
Now we come to the dark times. There is little to nothing known about
the last 35 years of PCS' life. Whether she gave up on commercial
prospects or was unsuccessful in getting them, there is no art from this
period known. Yet, I hope. There is always the possibility that
something will be discovered.
Pamela Colman Smith died on September 18, 1951 in Bude, Cornwall. She
was in debt and all her possessions were auctioned off. Her grave site
is unknown. But for a Tarot deck, she too would have remained unknown
except for specialists in minor artists.