Karl Gerich on the cards |
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KARL GERICH'S DESIGNS, like music or poetry, show where the artist finds beauty
in nature, in women, in abstract shapes. Karl has also been inspired by playing card designs of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and has re-worked these in his own individualistic style. |
We see chimera monsters, mermaids and satyrs, phoenixes, playful lovers and cupids, sea dragons and serpents, the mystique of orientalism, tricksters and jesters
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Above: No.10 'Four Corners' (1984). Part of uncut sheet, printed from copperplate etching on one sheet of Daler Ford cover paper, on the reverse a pink wash. Hand coloured, pips added by stencil. |
This is a double-ended copy of Dondorf's "Four Corners of the Earth" pack of 1870. The courts show exotically dressed figures from around the world. Each card measures: 75 x 44 mm. |
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Above: No.18 'Cartes Turques'. Partially coloured uncut proof sheet, printed from copperplate etching onto goatskin parchment paper. Dated 12/85 and 5/86. | |
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Above: Queen of Diamonds and a Joker from Karl's pack No.28 'Mayday' (1989). Printed from copperplate etching on Daler Ford cover paper. Hand coloured. |
Each card measures: 72 x 40 mm. |
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By Simon Wintle
Member since February 01, 1996
View ArticlesCurator and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.