The most significant painter of American cartomancy is probably Harry Herman Roseland (c.1867—1950). He was born and died in Brooklyn and was most known for depicting the lives of African-Americans, especially black women reading tea leaves, palms and cards for white women. Oprah Winfrey has stated that her favorite picture in her own collection is, ironically, Roseland’s wrenching portrayal of “a woman who is about to be sold into slavery and separated from her young daughter,” To the Highest Bidder. (Oprah has two more of Roseland’s paintings in her library.) See more of Roseland’s work here and here. Compare the works below with the images of cartomancers from Russia, France, England and Italy found here. And read “Aunt B’s” cultural analysis of these paintings here.
Mary K. Greer has made tarot her life work. Check here for reports of goings-on in the world of tarot and cartomancy, articles on the history and practice of tarot, and materials on other cartomancy decks. Sorry, I no longer write reviews. Contact me
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July 20, 2009 at 4:24 am
Little pig
How lovely and how intriguing. I do believe there is at least one ball of yarn & other implements of knitting in every image. Domestic–yes but also demonstrates the mystery of the oracle. This is found in such puns as “spinning a yarn” or “to spin a tale”. . .
July 20, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Lorrie Kazan
thanks for sharing this. really beautiful.
July 20, 2009 at 7:05 pm
avigayil
This was incredible! Thank-you for your dedication to Tarot history! The common thread I see is the intense engagement between the reader and querent. Oprah’s choice btw is SO intense. It would make a great public image so that we Americans never forget.
July 20, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Judika Illes
Thank you so much, Mary! At least two of his images were reproduced as popular postcards but without attribution. I have them in my collection and am so glad to know the identity of the wonderful artist.
July 20, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Andrea Marie
Love it! The physical closeness between the subjects, such a comment also on women communicating! The women receiving the readings being lower and looking up to wisdom and connection or holding themselves at the same level as the woman on the couch with the reader. So great to see these works together!
Ok, so, I have such an alternate use of tarot in the art of advertizing. I need to scan it to send it to you. You will not believe it, if you have not seen it already.
July 31, 2009 at 11:03 am
Demonologist « Tiny Cat Pants
[…] to say, exactly, but I’ve been thinking about this post I saw over at Mary K. Greer’s, showing some Harry Hermon Roseland pictures of tarot readers. And seeing them all together is really cool, I think. You get a real sense of the kind of […]
August 4, 2009 at 7:40 am
Gayla
Mary, I enjoyed looking at the Roseland art very much.
Here’s something you may find equally as interesting…I purchased this engraved print off ebay a year or so ago…
Luckily, I found a image of it on this equally as interesting website, skeptiseum.org.
Cheers, Gayla
August 4, 2009 at 10:34 am
mkg
Gayla –
I currently have over 60 images of cartomancers from before the 20th century which I hope to put up as a kind of gallery page. What’s most notable is that of the 60 only a couple feature male cartomancers and the others are definitely of a “type” that is rarely acknowledged fully in the literature. Do you have any information on where that print came from or a date for it?
August 4, 2009 at 11:41 am
Gayla
Interesting…
It’s been a while since I purchased the engraving on Ebay, but I was suprised how cheap it was…I think around $50…
“The Fortune-Teller,” original plate from book, Art & Artists of Our Time vol. III, by Clarence Cook, 1888. Steel engraving on wove paper, about 9½ x 12½ inches. Depicts a particularly swarthy “gypsy” with a black cat, suggestive of a witch’s familiar. Reproduces a painting by J. Phillip, R.A.
You may find some of these others of interest…
http://www.skeptiseum.org/index.php?id=136&cat=psychic
…and came across this one of a male “Chinese fortune teller”…
…not sure if that one really counts?
August 4, 2009 at 11:59 am
Gayla
Ah Mary…you rekindled interest in the engravings! 🙂 🙂
You’ll like this….
http://cgi.ebay.com/OCCULT-Gypsy-reading-the-cards-Antique-Art-Print-1871_W0QQitemZ110380568378QQcmdZViewItemQQptZArt_Prints?hash=item19b331cf3a&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
And this is quite intriguing….
http://cgi.ebay.com/SPAIN-Gypsies-expelled-Old-Antique-Print-Winston-1892_W0QQitemZ370219001911QQcmdZViewItemQQptZArt_Prints?hash=item5632c5a837&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
I love this one…
http://cgi.ebay.com/GYPSY-GIPSY-GIRL-CARDS-in-FOREST-Antique-Art-Print_W0QQitemZ310119527475QQcmdZViewItemQQptZArt_Prints?hash=item4834907433&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
A few years back I would sift thru ebay and online for hours looking for gypsy and tarot type engravings….the one I have is all I ever found…it seems more have surfaced as of lately…
Side note: I enjoy printing these engravings off in lite grayscale to color with colored pencils…:)
This tea reading engraving is very nice…
http://cgi.ebay.com/GYPSY-FORTUNE-TELLER-CUP-TOSSING-Rare-1800s-Art-Print_W0QQitemZ270337832355QQcmdZViewItemQQptZArt_Prints?hash=item3ef163f5a3&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
Also, I found the one I have on Ebay now for $16.00!!!!
August 18, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Aunt B.
I just wanted to share a little bit about what we talked about over at my blog. What a treat to get to see all these images together like this! I was really struck by how the first thing you notice is the intimacy between the two women. I think that’s familiar to anyone who’s done readings or had a reading done.
But if you look more closely, I think you can see the reason that Roseland’s images are unsettling. Though the reader has a lot of power–she has a kind of literacy that the women she’s reading for don’t have–there’s a lot in each photo that gives you an indication of just how precarious a position she’s in. Clearly, she’s much poorer than the women she reads for. In every image, the reader seems to have been interrupted while knitting. Look at how she has balls of yarn at her feet in each picture, like she has to put down her work to attend to these wealthier white women. And look at how many of the women being read for leave their hats on, as if they have some sense of themselves as being in a public space, where just anyone might come. And how they all have umbrellas, most of which are pointed sharply at the readers’ legs, as if to provide a kind of weaponized barrier between them.
Really interesting.
August 18, 2009 at 7:44 pm
mkg
Aunt B. –
Thank you so much for passing on the comments you and others made at your blog regarding these pictures. http://tinycatpants.wordpress.com/2009/07/31/demonologist/
Your insights are so helpful. I especially like the idea of an alternate ‘literacy’ here. And the point about the parasol is noticeably significant. It makes the point that this is not the kitchen of the white women’s homes. Along with Roseland’s many paintings of palm and tea leaf reading, it establishes this as a profession within a mostly hidden women’s world and class society. Although the greater height of the white women might indicate superiority it actually forces them to bend further and concentrate more. As a knitter I love the touches of knitting, which also links into the mythic archetype of the weaver of the web – the one who perceives the thread of one’s life story.
Your material really inspired me.
September 8, 2009 at 1:08 am
mkg
Aunt B has written an excellent essay analyzing these paintings at the FEMINISTE blog. I encourage you to read it.
http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2009/09/07/reading-tarot/
September 8, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Gayla (a.k.a Ambriel)
Aunt B’s essay lead me to notice something I had not before….the white women in the paintings are barely women at all.
To me, the first painting depicts two very, very young girls who appear to be no older than sixteen or seventeen. I imagine they have sneaked away from their governess to seek counsel with the Fortune Teller for amusement. Compare to the third and forth image which are clearly ladies, not girls…perhaps in their early to mid twenties. I see a more serious tone in these images…a more matter of fact and focused Seeker. They seem more ‘desperate’. Perhaps the man their parents are encouraging them to marry is not their most desired suitor, or they are being sent away for the season to some dreadful relatives estate for whatever reason.
The second image is my favorite, the young girl appears to simply be seeking comfort for her weary, broken heart on that hot summer day…she just wants the truth.
But, the reader maintains the same posture throughout, she is the same woman in every picture, is she not? I see in her something I see in myself when I read Tarot…”These are the cards, this is what they mean, this is how they connect.” A straightforward reading by which the Tarot has been used as a tool to, as Aunt B said, “let you intuition loose.” A opportunity for this wise, intuitive reader to state the truth and clarity of the matter to these seekers where she has no opportunity of such in any other forum.
I can’t help but wonder…how much did the reader get paid for the readings and for the sittings for Roseland? I can only imagine it was but a small penance compared to the insight and benefit received by them, him and us. 🙂
March 13, 2014 at 7:53 am
plaintain1
Yes, these paintings are interesting. Looking at them I see ‘equality’ that is, the body positions of each woman are equal, the same height. And even within that equality, the black woman has power, a gentle, non-threatening power. She has something that the white woman has no way of finding out by herself, only until the time the event or matter happens. The white woman looks on with a soft intensity as she is keen for the information. As someone said previously, the white woman is probably an upper class and makes you wonder if she is there in secret.
Also, it makes you wonder if back in the days after the war and during slavery, if black domestic women were well known for their spiritual gifts. I’ve not heard of Roseland before but I hope that one day someone will do research on this artist and who knows, possibly a play or film
July 8, 2014 at 3:21 pm
Kanini
This is a lovely write up! I’ve seen these works my whole life and never knew the background on them.
July 8, 2014 at 8:59 pm
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