Startpoker1the card as a picture: a magazine about the art of playing cards

An independent magazine about playing cards as objects of art and design. It has nothing to do with gambling, does not promote it and is not connected with the former website on this domain.

History

History

Playing cards have no single inventor and no exact birthday. They spread slowly, passed from country to country and took on local features everywhere they went. So we rely on only a few dates that historians cite most often and describe everything else in general terms, noting where the information is approximate.

The card travelled from country to country, and each new workshop added something of its own.

— Editor's note

Timeline

  1. No later than the 9th century

    According to a common view among historians, the earliest playing cards appear in China during the Tang dynasty. They are narrow slips bearing images and signs, closely tied to the culture of printing and paper.

  2. Last quarter of the 14th century

    Playing cards spread across Europe. They are drawn and coloured by hand and then increasingly printed from carved blocks, making the card one of the earliest images produced in multiple copies.

  3. 15th century

    The suits now familiar in many countries take shape in France: spades, hearts, clubs and diamonds. These simple signs are easy to print and recognisable at a glance.

  4. 1862

    A deck designed by the artist Adolf Charlemagne is issued. In Russia it is known as the "Atlas" deck, and for many people its court figures remain the model of what a deck should look like.

How the card became a picture

At first the card was above all an everyday object. It was made to be used, and few people thought about its artistic side. Yet from the very beginning its image needed a designer's hand: someone had to invent the signs, the figures and the order in which they are recognised.

Once cards began to be printed, the design could be reproduced. A cutter transferred the idea to the block, a printer pulled the impressions, and colour was often added by hand or by stencil. In this way a single deck brought together crafts that later became famous in book illustration.

Over time the court cards acquired a character of their own. Kings and queens were given recognisable costumes, poses and attributes, and card backs gained ornaments that followed the tastes of different periods. The deck turned into a small series of prints linked by a common style.

Today old cards are kept in print collections alongside book illustrations and single-sheet prints. They are studied as witnesses of their time: they show how people dressed, which patterns they loved and how advanced printing was.

  • Analysis

    How the picture of a card king is built, and how to tell woodcut, copper engraving, lithography and offset apart by the print.

  • People

    Designer, engraver, printer, card maker, collector and curator: the people behind every deck.

  • Collections

    Three reading routes: court cards and kings, card backs and patterns, small decks and patience.

  • Articles

    Six themes of the magazine, from the first decks to caring for old cards, plus the catalogue of English-language articles.

  • Archive

    The magazine's contents and why pages of the former website on this domain are not being restored.

Sources

  • Encyclopaedic sources on the history of playing cards
  • Museum catalogues and publications on printmaking

Dates and facts about the history of playing cards come from open encyclopaedic and museum sources; where historians disagree, we try to say so. Please check the times, venues and admission arrangements for exhibitions and lectures with the organisers.