Pamela Colman Smith, Mother of the modern tarot deck

Pamela Colman Smith co-created the world’s best-selling tarot deck, the Waite Smith deck, published in over twenty countries, with over one hundred million printings. A prolific artist, Pamela’s works are displayed in the Tate Museum, Smallhythe Place Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Folk Art Museum, the Folger Shakespeare Museum, Pennsylvania Art Museum, and Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library Collection.

Born in London in 1878, Pamela moved with her family to Manchester, later to Jamaica and New York City, returning to London in 1899. Pamela, or “Pixie” as she was called, established herself as an artist on many different platforms: illustrator, publisher, costumer, designer, teacher, author, and performer. The publication of her illustrated Annancy Tales included stories from her childhood years in Jamaica and 60 illustrations. She was the first woman to be exhibited at Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 Gallery, which broke all attendance records, two more exhibits of her works were later staged there. Through her connection with Bram Stoker, she was employed by the Lyceum Theatre, and illustrated Stoker’s last novel, The Lair of the White Worm. Also through his connection, she joined the Golden Dawn, where she met her collaborator on the tarot deck project, A. E. Waite. She self-published her own subscription arts journal, The Green Sheaf, with W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, and many others. The output of her art creations numbers in the thousands.

A remarkable artist who died penniless in 1951 in Bude, Cornwall, and is buried in an unmarked grave, it is time to honor this exceptional artist.