Pamela Colman Smith: looking at tarot as illustration

Put the illustrations first

It is easy to talk about a tarot deck as though its images have always existed. They are also the result of choices about drawing, composition, and publishing. Looking at how they were made gives us another way to approach the cards, as images created by people in a particular time and place.

In its history of tarot, the Victoria and Albert Museum discusses the collaboration between Arthur Edward Waite and Pamela Colman Smith. It dates the first publication of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck to 1909 and notes the freedom Smith had to illustrate the Minor Arcana. This information tells us about how the deck was made. It offers no evidence of any power to predict events.

One scene can suggest several stories

An illustration can show people, a pose, and a setting without telling a single story. When looking at a card, you can describe what is visible and then imagine several possible stories. The distinction helps keep a drawing from turning into a claim about your life or someone else’s.

Imagine a character standing by a window in a scene made up for this article. They might be waiting for someone, enjoying the light, or thinking about a story. Nothing in the scene makes one explanation certain. Seeing a detail does not tell you a character’s intentions.

A short composition exercise

Voyancea offers this as a creative exercise, without attributing it to Pamela Colman Smith. Look at a card you already own and identify the first thing you notice. Then look for a more subtle detail. Write down where they are and how your eye moves from one to the other.

On paper, draw just three shapes to suggest the arrangement: a rectangle for a figure, a line for the horizon, and a circle for an object. You do not have to reproduce the work or make a good drawing. The aim is to explore where the elements sit and how much space separates them.

Then move one shape in a second sketch. Does the image feel emptier, more crowded, or simply different? These impressions describe your experience with the drawing. They reveal no hidden state of mind and give you no decision to make.

Find out who made the cards

To learn more, consult a collection record or the credits for your edition. The artist, publisher, and date tell you different things. A recent reissue may reproduce an older illustration. Those details help you appreciate the graphic work without inventing a mysterious origin for each motif. You can enjoy looking without asking the cards to tell you what will happen.