the artist behind the most popular tarot deck in the entire western world

"For those who don’t know the name, Pamela Colman Smith, she’s the artist behind the most popular tarot deck in the western world, the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot or RWS. This deck is generally referred to as the Rider Waite Tarot, omitting Colman Smith’s name. As an artist, she changed the face of tarot, illustrating the world’s first “mass market” deck. And hers was one of the very first to have illustrations on every card in the deck. Her work inspired my life to take this whole different direction, and if you’re reading this, it’s probably had an impact on yours too. Despite this, she died penniless, in obscurity, as so many women artists did and do. But she was a fascinating, truly original woman ..." (read more)

Pamela Colman Smith