tarot
Russian Tarot of St Petersburg
Russian-created deck blending Shakov's vision with Eastern European aesthetics.
by Yuri Shakov, Cynthia Giles · 1992
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The Canon's read
Tarot Canon's own assessment, written for this catalog.
The deck's history is its most Russian feature: begun by Yury Shakov, master of the Palekh lacquer-miniature tradition, left unfinished at his death, completed by an unknown Russian artist from his sketches, and shepherded to publication with Cynthia Giles for 1992. The result carries the Palekh style's black-ground jewel-light, icon technique turned to folk and imperial imagery, St. Petersburg's gilded severity dealt into seventy-eight cards.
An unfinished master's deck completed anonymously would be a romantic legend if it were invented; being true, it gives every card a double authorship question that collectors savor. The deck stands with the Egorov and the Golden Tarot of the Tsar in this catalog's Russian wing, each working a different stratum: folk-imperial here, artist's-personal there, sacred-iconographic in the Tsar. It suits Russophiles and miniature-painting admirers, collectors of decks with genuine stories, and readers drawn to the czarist twilight's aesthetics. The anonymous finisher's identity remains one of deck history's small mysteries.
From the archive
An excerpt from a review at the Aeclectic Tarot archive, in the original reviewer's voice.
This deck is unusual in a few ways. First, it was started by Yury Shakov - he finished number of the cards, along with the preliminary sketches for the rest - but the remainder were finished by an unknown Russian...
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