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Morsucci and others


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Scandinavianhermit
Posted

Since a few years back, there exist a Marseille deck printed by Lo Scarabeo under the name Marseille Tarot. It is the fruit of cooperation between Anna Maria Morsucci and Mattia Ottolini.

 

I've been aware of the Marseille subset of tarot decks since back in the 1980s, but what was available then was the post-1970s version of Grimaud's marseilles deck in very dark blue, which makes the lines difficult to distinguish. I didn't warm up to marseilles decks until CBD Tarot became available, because, in that one, the lines are easily distinguishable, and the colour scheme is presumably closer to the original one

 

My question is, when someone new to marseilles decks encounter Kris Hadar's interpretation, Jodorowsky's and Camoin's interpretation, Houdouin's Tarot of Marseilles Millennium Edition, CBD Tarot and the many reconstructions available from Yves Reynaud (and the ones that were available from Jean-Claude Flornoy in the past), why should (s)he buy the Morsucci/Ottolini deck?

Posted

One reason I can think of is that it comes with a half decent book - and since Bursten's vanished, books in English on TdM are hard to come by.

Posted

It's available as a mini deck which might appeal to some who don't like massive tarot cards, or are looking for something portable 😊

Posted

Hello,

I use the Marseille Vintage Tarot, which is an alternative version of the Morsucci / Ottolini deck, with fake stain and wear marks added to the cards by Chiara Demagistris, to make them look older. 

 

That's my favourite. The main interest of this deck is the subtle re-design of the faces of all characters. In historical decks, faces often look sad and unhappy.

With CBD Tarot, it is the opposite. Everyone looks a bit too joyful.

Jodorowski / Camoin has more neutral faces.

The Morsucci / Ottolini tarot has also neutral faces, while being more faithful the the Conver tarot. 

 

I have noticed that in the vintage version, a second shade of yellow has been added. Crowns of the papesse, impératrice, empereur and pape, for example, have two colours instead of one uniform yellow. 

For me it is one of the most neutral and beautiful Marseille tarot (at least the vintage version, I've never seen the regular one in real life). It just looks "normal", without the primitive look of historical decks, with the rich original colours that are absent from the Grimaud, and without any extra fantasy added on top. 

 

 

 

Scandinavianhermit
Posted

Thank you. All this make sense. I will gladly hear more about people's experiences with the Morsucci/Ottolini Marseilles.

 

1 hour ago, Pio2001 said:

The main interest of this deck is the subtle re-design of the faces of all characters. In historical decks, faces often look sad and unhappy.

With CBD Tarot, it is the opposite. Everyone looks a bit too joyful.

Jodorowski / Camoin has more neutral faces.

The Morsucci / Ottolini tarot has also neutral faces, while being more faithful the the Conver tarot. 

Next time I use my CBD, I will reflect on its faces.

Posted

For me, here are the things to look at before choosing a tarot de Marseille.

 

  • Faces : do they look nice ? Many tarots reproduce old naive drawings with strange-looking, often frightening, faces.
  • Hair of Etoile and Temperance. In Grimaud's tarot, these two have blue hair instead of yellow.
  • Colours : Grimaud's tarot use very dark colours, while some modern versions, like CBD and Ottolini / Morsucci, use ultra-bright colours (except the Vintage Ottolini / Morsucci / Demagistris). Look especially at the cups, that are often uniformly bright yellow.
  • Wands and swords : are each of them separately coloured ? 
  • Faces : white or skin coloured ? 

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