Ship of Fools
Traditional tarot inspired by Das Narrenschiff, celebrating freedom and foolishness imagery.
by Brian Williams · 2002
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The record
The Ship of Fools Tarot is "a classic and traditional tarot uniquely based on images of freedom and foolishness" by Brian Williams, creator of other well-known tarots like the Renaissance Tarot, PoMo Tarot and the Minchiate Tarot. The inspiration for these cards was 'Das Narrenschiff', The Ship of Fools, a German poem published by Sebastian Brant in 1495. The popular poem was a moralistic satire warning against more than one hundred vices and follies, from recklessness to bringing animals into church. Originally illustrated with woodcut images showing a fool in jester's hat involved in the various offences, Williams has selected the whole or parts of these images, and combined them with Marseilles and Rider-Waite tarot symbols to create each tarot card. The art style of uncoloured pen and ink line drawings on an ivory-coloured background imitates the original woodcuts, and keeps the rustic atmosphere of the medieval Narrenschiff illustrations. The lack of colour on the cards gives the tarot scene a curious equality - there is no difference of hue or tone to draw the eye, no distractingly loud or clashing colours, which seems to make the subject of the card seem more prominent. Seve
The cards
