SCOR playing cards

To illustrate their annual report for 1988, the reinsurance company SCOR commissioned the artist Roland Topor (1938-1997) to come up with images reflecting various activities involving risk. The results can be seen on the court cards and aces in this pack where Topor’s black and surrealist humour is evident in the bizarre, fantastical and often absurd images of risky situations. The setting for those situations is frequently the stage, as that was a milieu with which Topor was certainly familiar. Quite a bold commission from a reinsurance company! See the box

Above: SCOR playing cards designed by Roland Topor, made by Héron S.A. for the SCOR reinsurance company, France, 1988. 52 cards + 2 Jokers + 1 bridge score card in tuck box. Size: 63 x 88 mm.