Art Nouveau Tarot

Designed by Matt Myers

In the Art Nouveau Tarot, the artist Matt Myers takes traditional tarot symbols and presents them in the decorative art nouveau style. His images reflect the curved lines and stylized figures characteristic of this popular, turn-of-the-century artistic movement. Each suit in this deck tells a story concerning a family, and the numbered cards show the characters as figures in a stained glass window.

Matt Myers painted the deck in oil and used human models for this project. Unlike many tarot decks (painted in watercolor), the colors are beautifully dark and the people painted on the cards have very "real", distinct facial features. Myers is such a talented artist that some cards (The World, for example) almost appear to be a photograph instead of a painted picture. 

The major arcana are really stunning in this deck. The rich reds and blues really make this deck "vibe right" and keep it from being too cute to take it seriously. The major arcana have some interesting "simple" symbolism in it. The Moon card is a woman and The Sun card is a male, which goes along with older esoteric teachings. The Lovers is a very sexually charged card and refers more to the marriage bed than the wedding ceremony.  The Death card is a real beauty here and shows a skeleton dancing in a bed of blooming flowers.

The minor arcana court cards are very well done and in some, like The Knight of Swords, the reader is actually given more symbolisn than included in older traditional decks. The pip cards depict four different couples in the stages of their relationships. The meanings of the cards are the same as the traditional decks, but the scenes are totally new. A few reminders of older decks are thrown into the pips here and there.

This deck is a smaller/medium size with blue backs, plastic coated for durability and easy shuffling. The art style and rich colors used in this deck are just outright beautiful and more attractive "in person" than the scanned pictures.  ~ excerpt of review by Freddie