Gaudí playing cards
Gaudí playing cards with photography by Ramon Manent, Spain, 2002.
Published by Heraclio Fournier in 2002, this is another pack devoted to the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926). Unlike the earlier Gaudí Poker, the cards display photographs by Ramon Manent (b. 1948), who specialises in portraying Catalan art and architecture of the Romanesque, Gothic and especially the Modernista periods. Manent is famed for his photos of works by Gaudí, showcasing their forms, textures and colours. His images of the architect’s oeuvre demonstrate his mastery at capturing the object, light and space. See the box►
The cards have decorative borders within which is a photograph of a particular building or a specific feature or aspect of one of Gaudí’s masterpieces. There are three additional cards providing information about the artist, in Spanish, French and English►
Above: Gaudí playing cards published by Heraclio Fournier, Spain, 2002.
By Peter Burnett
Member since July 27, 2022
I graduated in Russian and East European Studies from Birmingham University in 1969. It was as an undergraduate in Moscow in 1968 that I stumbled upon my first 3 packs of “unusual” playing cards which fired my curiosity and thence my life-long interest. I began researching and collecting cards in the early 1970s, since when I’ve acquired over 3,330 packs of non-standard cards, mainly from North America, UK and Western Europe, and of course from Russia and the former communist countries.
Following my retirement from the Bodleian Library in Dec. 2007 I took up a new role as Head of Library Development at the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to support library development in low-income countries. This work necessitated regular training visits to many sub-Saharan African countries and also further afield, to Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh – all of which provided rich opportunities to further expand my playing card collection.
Since 2019 I’ve been working part-time in the Bodleian Library where I’ve been cataloguing the bequest of the late Donald Welsh, founder of the English Playing Card Society.
Related Articles
Tarot de las Coscojas
Historical playing card design, tarot symbolism and an almost psychedelic medieval surrealism.
Tarot de Valverde de la Vera
A series of 24 surrealist engravings by Mexican artist Claudio Favier in which archetypal Tarot alle...
Sannois dans les étoiles
Celebrities and buildings associated with Sannois, a commune in the suburbs of Paris.
Visite Mexico
Promoting Mexican tourism with 54 different photographs in full colour.
Baraja de Juan Martín Zamorano
Deck inspired by El Pendón de los Zamorano, a military pennant dating from 1501, published by Priego...
Whist by Ditha Moser
Ditha Moser created this minimalist Whist deck in 1905, in the style of the Vienna Secession art mov...
Alan Tarot Deck
Reprint of a Tarock pack originally designed by Argio Orell for the Austrian Lloyd shipping company....
Heráldica Castanyer No. 16
Strange variant of international pattern cards for poker or bridge.
Jim Lyngvild playing cards
Photographs of Danish royalty as imagined by fashion designer Jim Lyngvild.
Fantasy Spanish-suited deck
Fantasy Spanish-suited deck by Bertschinger y Codina, Barcelona.
Bertschinger y Codina - Cartes Françaises
French ‘Paris’ pattern made by Bertschinger y Codina, Barcelona, c.1850.
Braulio Fournier
Baraja Nº 1 produced by Braulio Fournier, Burgos, c.1868.
Tarot Actuel 1984
Major arcana to cut out, issued with the French magazine Actuel, using photographic images.
The Glasgow Pack
Issued to celebrate Glasgow’s reign as European City of Culture in 1990, with city views and works o...
Pirritx eta Porrotx
Happy Families card game from the Spanish Basque Country.
Naipe Vizcaino
‘Naipe Vizcaino’ designed by Javier Urkiri and published by Industrias Gráficas Castuera and the Caj...
Most Popular
Our top articles from the past 28 days
