Corinne Pamela Colman Smith born February 16, 1878, Pimlico, London, died September 18, 1951, Bude, Cornwall, England is most remembered for the fact that she designed the Rider-Waite Tarot, travelled with the Lyceum Theatre Company headed by Sir Henry Irving (who's manager was Bram Stoker, author of Dracula) Ellen Terry and with influence from Florence Farr.
Pamela Colman Smith had a Jamaican mother and American father and she both toured and lived in Britain and America as well as spending substantial time in Jamaica. There are a number of grossly contradictory reports about her life, but it is known that one of her cousins was the actor William Gillette and another of her relatives wrote the Uncle Remus Br'er Rabbit stories.
None of this however did Pamela much good. She was nicknamed 'Pixie' and is mentioned in the 1907 book Bohemia in London by Arthur Ransome under the name of 'Gypsy'. Men seemed fascinated by her but, none seemed to want to marry her. When she died, her companion was Mrs Norah Lake, her friend of many years. Was it that Pamela was not interested in men, or was it that men saw her as a pretty exotic plaything but not marriage material?
There is much flowery frivolity about Pamela. Secretly, she probably hated being called Pixie and most likely left her bohemian life and Occultism behind because she was unfulfilled.
Her supposed friend, John Butler Yeats actually wrote some rather rude things about her and her father and also said she could not paint. Good job he never met David Hockney then, a figure despised by many a ten year old artist. If you are well known you can paint rubbish, if you are unknown you are rubbish. All looks yellow (or perhaps gold) to the jaundiced eye; why are we all here? - Because we are not all there! Why is David Hockney considered an artist? Nobody knows. The New Golden Dawn personal mottos of the 21st Century, who needs Latin? These days, Mozart would not be allowed to teach music because he would not hold a degree in music! Shakespeare couldn't teach literature for the same reason.
We've depicted Pamela Colman Smith as an angry lady. The Pixie turned angry; E.T. Unfulfilled and unforgiving of those who snubbed her. They must have done for she allegedly died in poverty in 1951, her goods sold to pay debts. A sad end to a life that originally held so much promise.
Selected References to Pamela Colman Smith
