Chat du Marseille

Elaine Moertl, whose Ferret Tarot documented one small mammal's perspective, here applies her pen to grander architecture: the Marseille pattern itself, reimagined feline, cats occupying the tradition's oldest offices. The premise is cheekier than a standard cat deck; the Marseille's formal dignity, all that woodcut solemnity, rehoused in creatures famous for sitting on whatever matters most, is a joke with genuine structural respect underneath. Moertl's small-press practice, limited editions, pen-and-ink intimacy, gives the catalog its second data point on her range, from indie whimsy to pattern homage. Cat Marseilles are a tiny genre, the pattern's austerity resisting theming, which makes entries collectible by rarity of concept alone. It suits Marseille readers with humor about their tradition, Moertl's collectors pairing the ferret, cat-deck completists who thought they had everything, and pattern students amused by stress-testing. The solemn Marseille shelves stand nearby, pretending not to notice the cat in the Papesse's chair.