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Pamela Colman Smith : “Time” (c. 1907)

Museum Quality Giclée on Fine Art Paper

  • Matte Finish does not pick up glare from interior lighting
  • Smooth Surface maximizes sharpness and preserves detail
  • Accent Borders display the artwork uncropped and ready to mat
  • In-house Printing assures artistic quality standards

Best-known for her work illustrating the Rider-Waite tarot, Pamela Colman Smith was a synesthetic artist whose watercolors record the dramatic visions that unfurled before her as she listened to classical music. Each composer opened a doorway into a different realm. “Chopin brings the night,” she wrote, “gardens, mystery and dread hide under every bush, but joy and passion throb within the air,” whereas Wagner summoned maddening visions of “scratchy little brown fir-trees rising through a brown fog,” and “thick curtains of brown spiders’ webs” with “a sickly, sweet, evil smell clinging to everything.” “Sometimes they are so strange,” she said of her visions, “they shock me as they come.”

Mrs. Forbes-Semphill described her process in a 1927 article for The Illustrated London News:

“Sometimes the picture appears and grows in colour and form upon the paper as she draws, and she seems to just trace over it with her brush. At other times it is a living and moving picture that she sees before her in a frame…She does not seek to analyse these impressions at the time, as this would interfere with the subconscious action; she is absolutely sincere, and sets down only what she sees, holding her imagination well in check.”

These images, moreover, were deeply imbued with occult symbolism. Smith was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn — an influential esoteric society whose membership included Bram Stoker, William Butler Yeats and Arthur Machen, to name a few. At the heart of their doctrines was the theory of correspondences, which, according to Melinda Boyd Parsons, “suggested that each aspect of creation as an imperfect reflection of a spiritual prototype…filtered through the ten Sephiroth or divine names. These, in turn, were manifestations of one ‘uncreated source.’ True reality lay only in this prototypical realm.”

They believed that it was this realm of pure archetype that Pamela Colman Smith was accessing through her art.

Product Information

Expect crisp detail and vivid color from our giclée process fine art prints. We use archival pigment inks on cotton fiber paper to achieve a wide color gamut, deep blacks and beautiful tonal transitions. Unlike posters, they will not fade or yellow, but maintain their original quality for as long as you own them.

How to Frame

Historical artworks were produced in whatever shapes and sizes best suited the artists and their patrons, and these rarely correspond to the proportions of modern, mass-produced frames. Most reproductions sold on the web are cropped to an arbitrary standard, compromising the integrity of the original artwork. We solve this by using accent borders to make up any differences in proportion.

Framing may be as simple as inserting the print into a standard size frame with the borders showing. In many cases, our customers choose to have them matted. Borders allow space for framers to mount the print while covering little, if any, of the artwork. Our images are sized to provide desirable mat widths in common frames.

Sizes 9” x 12”, 12” x 16”, and 16” x 20” are designed to be matted in larger frames, such as 11” x 14”, 16” x 20” and 20” x 24”, respectively. Larger prints may be matted in frames of equal size, the borders corresponding to the shape of the mat. Where the artwork is unusually square or narrow, other sizes may be preferred.

If our sizing does not meet your requirements, we provide customization free of charge. Please contact us to discuss the details.

Shipping and Returns

All orders ship within one business day. The following services are available at checkout:

United States
 
Shipping Class Price Estimated Delivery Window
USPS First Class Parcel Free 3 – 5 business days
USPS Priority Mail $3.99 2 – 4 business days
USPS Priority Mail Express $29.99 1 – 3 days, guaranteed
Canada *
 
Shipping Class Price Estimated Delivery Window
USPS First Class International $11.99 1 – 3 weeks
USPS Priority Mail Express $56.99 3 – 5 business days
International, Excluding Canada *
 
Shipping Class Price Estimated Delivery Window
USPS First Class International $17.99 1 – 4 weeks
USPS Priority Mail Express $62.99 3 – 5 business days

* International orders may be subject to import taxes at time of delivery.

Returns Policy

If you are unhappy with your order for any reason, you are welcome to return it within 60 days for a full refund. Please contact us and return your item(s) to: The Ibis 809 Grant Street Endicott, NY 13760

Your return will be processed on receipt.
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