Pamela Colman Smith, Tarot Artist

Pamela Colman Smith is the mysterious artist behind the most renowned tarot deck in the world, for many years forgotten. In a revival of interest in esoteric artists and accessible tarot, curiosity about Pamela is now on the ascendant, but there are still many unanswered questions, especially concerning her later life. Born in London to American parents, Pamela was a prolific illustrator and artist who mixed with the great and good of art and theatre, among them W. B. Yeats and Bram Stoker. 'Adopted' by actress Ellen Terry, she spent some years with the Lyceum Theatre crowd, also working as an exotic storyteller, known as Gelukiezanger, in bohemian London.

People have questioned her sexuality, her ethnic origins and alleged synaesthesia, assuming her to be biracial and lesbian. These are discussed but the biggest mystery of all is why she converted from mysticism to Catholicism in 1911, removing herself from vibrant London to the isolated Lizard in the west of Cornwall. There, living in relative obscurity, she evangelised Catholicism in a heavily non-conformist area, before moving to Bude in her sixties.

About the Author

Dawn Robinson grew fascinated with the acclaimed tarot artist Pamela Colman Smith while researching and writing her last book, Secret Bude, about the beautiful coastal town of Bude where Pamela died in 1951. A five times graduate and mother of five, Dawn previously worked as a teacher, lecturer and freelance feature writer in Lancashire. Now a hyperlocal publisher in Bude, Dawn and her family moved to the south-west in 2010. Dawn now teaches creative writing to adults in Bude which she thoroughly enjoys.