Archive for the ‘Poker Art’ Category

Face Cards in a Deck of Cards: How Did They Evolve?

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

There was a card craftsman who, as a French military commander,  battled alongside Joan of Arc.  His name was Etienne de Vignolles, known as La Hire.  The courage and heroism of the legendary maid of Orleans so impressed him he removed the knight from a deck of cards and replaced it with a dame.  Decorating cards with religious motifs or those depicting humans did not raise the wrath of the Catholic church.  The king of spades was designed after King David including his sword and quiver.  Charles the Great became the king of clubs, Julius Caesar the king of diamonds, and Alexander the Great was symbolized by the king of hearts.  These four members of the monarchy came together to represent the four springboards of western civilization.

Today’s Queens and Jacks did not follow such a consistent path.  The queen of spades represented the goddess Athena, which could also have been a representation of that kindred warrior, Joan of Arc.  Rachel depicted the queen of diamonds whose husband, Jacob, waited around for 14 years to marry her.  Somewhat disturbingly, the queen of hearts represented Judith, who quite unromantically cut off the head of Holofernes.  The queen of clubs did not follow this same pattern.  She represented a collection of images that formed Argine, an abstract favorite of kings, whose name appears to be an anagram of “regina” (queen).  This also could be a possible reference again to Joan of Arc, as Charles the Great, the French Catholic major domo, was the king of clubs.

The jack of spades was from a knight in Charlemagne’s court; diamonds were for Hector; for hearts we have La Hire himself and Judas Maccabeus represented clubs.  A variation on the theme had the four jacks being represented by four well-known knights: Lancelot, Ogier, Roland, and Valery.  These four were youthful, clean-shaven and longhaired warriors, all with battle axes.  All had a bloodhound-like dog at their feet except for Valery, possibly because Valery was the chief craftsman who created the deck.

Going lower on the scale, we have cards ten down to two, marked with their corresponding number and value.  The Ace which was an English word meaning “unit” had translations in French, Spanish, German and other equivalents as well, such as: as, ass, aus, etc.  The Ace was ranked lower than even the two.  This greatly upset the Catholic Church of the middle ages as God was “one” and any numeric system defining His number as lowly was blasphemous and smacked as consorting with the devil.  Should you disagree with this theory, you would undoubtedly come to see it their way on your way to the dungeon.

The Ace stands today for something almost metaphysical – the quintessence of oneness, if you will, which becomes more valuable than any one personification.  In reality, should a lone, simple card be given such mystical attributes?

This amorphous debate has been argued for centuries.  There are many countries in this world of ours that consider spirit and matter as one and as an important facet of our self-awareness.  In these modern times more than ever before, the rational, mystical, quasi-physical and sometimes, sexual elements of a deck of cards are greatly admired.  The Ace remains the essential entity of all or nothing, or something of an indeterminate element in the game of cards and life.

Back to earth – cards serve the same purpose today as they did back in the middle ages.  The rank of cards in the deck possibly reflecting back on the rank of humanity in society, from monarch to serf, with value depending upon rarity and the specific results of thousands of  combinations.

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How Did the Face Cards in a Deck of Cards Evolve?

Friday, December 18th, 2009

A military commander in the French army, who was in combat along with Joan of Arc was also an artisan who designed and crafted cards.  His name was Etienne de Vignolles, AKA La Hire.  Saint Joan so impressed him with her courage and heroic deeds that he removed the knight in the deck in favor of a dame.  Decorating cards with religious motifs, or those depicting human forms were not a problem to the Catholic Church.  King David was symbolized in the deck with the king of spades with sword in hand and quiver at his feet.  Charles the Great was represented by the king of clubs, Julius Caesar became the king of diamonds, and Alexander the Great, the king of hearts.  The four sources of western civilization were thus represented by the four kings.

Today’s Queens and Jacks did not evolve as consistently.  Athena represented the queen of spades, undoubtedly also drawn to be reminiscent of the soldier, Joan of Arc.  Rachel, for whom Jacob hung around for 14 years to marry was the queen of diamonds.  Oddly, the queen of hearts was depicted by Judith, the lovely maiden who lopped off the head of Holofernes.  Now it gets complicated:  the queen of clubs was an amalgamation of an abstract favorite of kings, termed Argine, which may have been named for an anagram of regina (queen).  But again, it could have been used to suggest Joan of Arc as the king of clubs was depicted by Charles the Great, a very distinguished French Catholic honcho.

The jack of spades was the symbol for one of Charlemagne’s knights of the court. Hector stood in for diamonds; La Hire himself for hearts, while clubs were represented by Judas Maccabeus.  For the sake of variety, the four jacks depicted four famous knights: Lancelot, Ogier, Roland and Valery.  Each knight’s name appeared below their picture on the cards.  They were long-haired, clean-shaven youths, warriors wielding battle axes.  All of them buy Valery had at their feet a dog similar to a bloodhound.  This may have occurred because Valery was also the lead craftsman of the deck.

For the lower numbers, cards two to ten, their value was on the same scale, i.e. two to ten.  The Ace, an English word first defined as “unit”,  did not fit into the two through ten range and had French, German, Spanish and other equivalents: as, ass, ace, etc.  The Ace was actually valued below the two.  The medieval Catholic Church took great exception to this as God was “one,” so to represent the almighty’s number as the lowest on the scale was clearly the work of the devil.  Anyone deigning to disagree with this was shown the door to the torture chamber.

The Ace of today symbolizes a quintessential quality freely associated with any number of entities.  It is of greater value than any one personage.  But can any card in the deck be a stand-in for the crassness of science or  metaphysical meanderings of the mind?

This was debated in the middle ages as it is sometimes done so now.  Many countries in our world do not distinguish been spiritual and material matters with both being important to one’s definition of self.  In modern times, perhaps more than in ancient times, the rational, mystical, and even blatant sexuality are revered in the designs of a  deck of cards.

More down-to-earth, the cards have always served their utilitarian function – that of an object  with which to play games.  The hierarchy from King to two to Ace, and the innumerable possible combinations of cards of varying values according to their rarity give much fodder for anyone to project onto the deck whatever social or spiritual aspirations they may have.

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Did a Few Poker Playing Dogs Help To Bring Poker Into The Light?

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Born in 1844 to a family of abolitionist Quaker farmers, Cassius Marcellus Coolidge, nicknamed “Cash” by his friends and family, became an instantly recognized commercial artist with the series of Dogs Playing Poker he gave to the world.  He is named after one of the most eloquent of orators against slavery, nicknamed  “The Lion Of White Hall” as an anthropomorphic tribute to the township in which he lived.  Mr. Coolidge (Cash) had no professional training in the arts whatsoever.  Nonetheless, he was a very active artist, publishing drawings in papers before his twentieth birthday.

The paintings along one of his favorite themes, mastiffs and Saint Bernards engaged in the activities normally attributed to humans, began with a commission in 1903.  Well-bred and well-behaved dogs drink alcoholic libations, smoke cigars and pipes, and play five-card draw poker in nine out of sixteen of the paintings.  Generally they are pictured as furry masculine types in fur coats or warm suits sitting around a table in a cozy room with the only source of light being a lamp above the table.

These proper members of the well-to-do bourgeoisie seem to be well mannered gentlemen, if not altogether tame, definitely a  cultured lot.  Think of Sergio Leone’s movie Once Upon a Time in America, the pictures are roughly of the same era.  But the focus of the paintings that Coolidge gives us is not the one of greed and violence as in the underground clubs depicted in the movie.  Instead, his poker games emerge from the murky criminal underworld into a decent society where the club members play poker, if not entirely for fun, for only a few cents, smoke a little tobacco and tipple just a bit behind their wives backs.  Poker was no more a way to make money quickly and dangerously.  It was becoming wholesome entertainment for the majority of American men.

Respected members of society as early as 1875 gathered at large nocturnal poker sessions.  Poker Chips was one of the publications dedicated to the game and most periodicals of the time included articles on poker in their content.  Standard rules for playing draw-poker were unified and distributed among all the poker clubs beginning at  the turn of the century.  This was a first.  It was even reported that baseball had lost its status as the national game.

Interestingly, the ability to play poker and use a gun, in no relation whatsoever to any criminal reference, became gradually the accoutrements of a “real man.”  If a fellow played a good game of poker they must also be good soldiers, good law men, and good, honest politicians.  During World War I in Europe, in 1914, poker became THE mode of entertainment among the two million troops and of Harry Truman himself.  As an artillery officer, Truman fine-tuned both draw and stud poker.  And at the end of the war with the signing of the peace treaty, he and his combat comrades played infinite games of poker waiting to be shipped home.  They continued to play the game after their arrival on home soil.

At that time, the prevailing view was to equate the ability to take risks at the table, to bet big, play smart, and bluff, (profitably, of course!) to the ability to survive in battle, in dangerous occupations like law enforcement, or do any job requiring a good brain and strong muscles.

Our boy, Cash Coolidge, was surrounded with plenty of opportunity to observe the types, the apparel and the game room ambience of the basement clubs where games were regularly played.  By adding his vivid, imaginative anthropomorphic humor to it all, he replicated very creatively the demeanor of the middle class engaged happily in a game that was at that time at least 200 years old.

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Canines Bring Poker Out of the Smokey Basements and Backrooms and Into the Light

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

Most of you will instantly recognize the series of paintings titled Dogs Playing Poker created by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge.  Mr. Coolidge was born into a family of Quaker farmers who were very much into abolition and was named after one of the most eloquent orators of the time who was given the resounding nickname of “The Lion of White Hall.  Coolidge, nicknamed “Cash” by friends and relatives, did not receive any formal training in the arts, but was nonetheless a prolific artist, publishing his drawings in papers before reaching the ripe old age of 20.

Cash’s favorite theme was, oddly, those big dogs Mastiffs and Saint Bernards, engaging in very human activities.  In 1903, he was commissioned to do a series of paintings on this very theme.  In nine of the sixteen paintings commissioned, very respectable, genteel dogs were gathered together to drink beer and whiskey and indulge in a cigar or pipe as they played five-card draw poker.  These furry gamers dressed in fur coats or wool suits would fill up a cozy den-like space whose only source of light was a shaded lamp over the table.

These reasonably well-behaved gentlemen are members of an established, respectable class of town folk, who though certainly not stodgy, are quite proper enough.  If you can conjure up Sergio Leone’s movie “Once Upon a Time in America,” you are in the right time period.  But the artist is not focusing on the greed and dark violence of the illegal underground clubs depicted in Leone’s movie.  He allows poker to come out of the darkness of all this into a more wholesome, mainstream faction of society where decent folk who may be wagering on a game, are certainly not into it for more than a few token pennies, and are indulging in a rare sip of whiskey and small pipe or cigar while their wives are away.  By this time, poker was becoming a respectable and common pastime for most American males.  It was no longer viewed as just as way to make a quick, risky and dangerous buck.

Well-respected gentlemen around 1875 were attending large evening poker games.  A monthly rag called “Poker Chips” was one of the publications devoting itself to the game and most others published poker-related articles.  As the century ended, rules became codified for draw-poker for the first time and were in force in all of the poker clubs.  Some reporters went so far as to claim that baseball was no longer the national past time.

Little by little, the skills at poker and skills at using a weapon were becoming the premier attributes of many a manly man.  If a man had the ability to play a good game of poker, he was considered also to be a fine soldier, sheriff, law man of any persuasion and a solid, honest political leader as well.  As a matter of fact, in World War I in Europe in 1918, poker was the most enjoyed form of entertainment among the troops and of one Harry Truman.  Truman actually greatly enhanced his own skill at draw and stud poker as an artillery officer.  Upon the signing of the peace treaty, while the troops were awaiting their transport home orders, Harry T. and his troops whiled away the time playing endless hands of poker.  A habit they continued well after arriving at their homeland.

It is the ability to bet large and shrewdly, take big risks, and bluff successfully for profit of course, that is also perceived to be the mark of the man that survives in battle, is willing and able to take on dangerous jobs like law enforcement or to be successful at any type of occupation that requires brains and muscle.

Cash Coolidge was around at a time that gave him every opportunity to observe the sort of person, the clothes, the card games and the milieu in which all of these elements came together in basement clubs that gave rise to the essence of his art.  Through his art, which consisted of a vivid imagination and anthropomorphic humor, he created a representation of the life of the bourgeoisie at the time enjoying a game that had been around for more than 200 years.

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Poker Playing Dogs Help Usher in the New Age

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

Cassius Marcellus Coolidge, an instantly recognizable commercial painter who has given the world the series of Dogs Playing Poker, was born in 1844, into a family of abolitionist Quaker farmers and was named after one of the most eloquent orators against slavery, nicknamed (with provisional anthropomorphism) “The Lion of White Hall.” Nicknamed “Cash” by friends and kin, he had no official training whatsoever, but was very active, publishing drawings in papers before he was 20.

In 1903 he was commissioned a series of paintings on his favorite theme: mastiffs and Saint Bernards engaged in human activity. On nine of the sixteen paintings well bred and mannered dogs drink beer and whiskey, smoke cigars and pipes, and play five-card draw poker. Furry and in fur coats or flannel suits, they usually fill a cozy room with the only source of light being a shaded lamp above the table.

The players are established bourgeois, and seem to be reasonably well-behaved gentlemen, perhaps not altogether tame, but proper enough. The paintings reflect approximately the same period as that depicted in Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America. But Coolidge does not focus on the greed and violence of illegal underground clubs; rather, he shows poker finally emerge from the criminal murk into a more homely reality where decent members of society probably never bet more than a few symbolic cents and allowed themselves a few drops of bourbon when their wives weren’t looking. Poker was becoming common entertainment for most American men, not a means to make quick and dangerous money.

As early as 1875, respectable persons attended major night-time poker sessions. At least one monthly, Poker Chips, was dedicated to the game and most periodicals published related articles.  At the turn of the century, unified rules for draw-poker were for the first time spread among all poker clubs. Reporters suggested that baseball had ceased to be the national game.

Gradually, unrelated to any criminal associations, the ability to play poker and the ability to wield a gun became the staple talents of any real man. Men who played good poker were usually likewise good soldiers, good sheriffs, and good politicians.  In the spring of 1918, in Europe, the game was the most popular mode of entertainment among Harry Truman and his two million troops. Truman perfected his draw and stud poker as an artillery officer. When the peace treaty was signed, waiting to be shipped home, he and his combat friends spent the time at endless games of poker which they continued even after arrival home.

The ability to bet big and smart, bluff, and risk profitably was seen as identical in essence to the ability to survive in battle, survive on dangerous jobs in law enforcement, or do any job which required brains and brawn.

Coolidge had ample opportunity to observe the types, the clothes, the cards, and the basement clubs where games were regularly held. Adding a vivid touch of anthropomorphic humor, he created memorable representations of the middle class enjoying a game by then at least 200 years old.

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Looking for Poker in the Arts

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Collecting Poker Art may be something that poker fans enjoy, and the industry is large enough churning out anything from Super Mario chip art to stylish monochrome photographs with titles such as No Chance and Gunslinger. However, most of it is primarily commercial products, with barely a chance to entice a connoisseur’s eye.

A general interest for the serious poker player, with an eye for the game’s complex aesthetics, may be poker in when he is not busy challenging a worthy rival art. Does good art which is significantly related to poker exist?

Worthwhile references to the game in art are rare, despite its immense popularity, and some admirers cherish them with the elite pride of the devotees of some wonderful esoteric practice. Mainly in modern compositions poker in music is featured, but for its expression in sound there does not seem to be much possibility. Video usually accompanies the more successful efforts, and these are restricted to MTV clips. Poker is referenced in many songs, but mostly a half-hearted solace is offered. Usually well meaning fans or poker pros that are not necessarily great with words or music are the composers of such songs.

The Card Party: Ballet in Three Deals, is the most significant poker-inspired artwork in music in which I am familiar. Music and visuals are ideally fused by its nature and was first danced by Balanchine’s American Ballet Ensemble. It is one of the rarer curiosities poker admirers might want to see, with music by Stravinsky, who enjoyed poker as a pastime. It is more fanciful than accurate in representing the process of playing cards.

Dogs Playing Poker by Cassius Coolidge is one of the most obvious examples in painting form. There was an order for nineteen commercially oriented paintings using anthropomorphized dogs and these were only part of the order. Nowadays, the general concept of cigar-smoking canines around a table in a dim-lit club that is more iconic than the original paintings.

Poker and card games tend to be stylized by many works of art, blending them with fantastic themes. Alice in Wonderland would be the most obvious example. The Queen of Spades in Alexander Pushkin’s most popular story, concerns a player desperate to learn a card trick he or she had heard about from a friend. The story culminates into a sort of card-game horror though it began as realism: the man so desperate to learn the secret from the old woman guarding it that he threatens her with an unloaded pistol unintentionally causing her to die of fear. Her corpse opens her eyes to him at the funeral then her ghost visits him at his house discloses the secret. The man doubles his possessions in the first game afterwards. In another game he knows he is holding an ace but somehow plays a queen and loses everything. After being committed to an asylum he raves in room 17: Three, seven, ace! Three, seven, queen! There is a BAFTA-nominated 1949 British adaptation fantasy-horror of the story by Thorold Dickinson.

Poker tends to be criminally realistic in film (though not necessarily more accurate), from Cincinnati Kid to Rounders with Matt Damon and Edward Norton. Rounders has become a cult film precisely because of its decent depiction of the playing process and did moderate in the box office.

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Is There A Place for Poker In Art?

Saturday, October 10th, 2009

Poker Art is something that poker fans may enjoy collecting, and the industry is large enough. Anything from Super Mario chip art to stylish monochrome photographs with titles such as Gunslinger and No Chance, are being produced. With no nuance to entice the eye of a connoisseur it is primarily commercial products.

With an eye fro the game’s complex aesthetics, the serious poker player may have a general interest in is poker in art when he is not challenging a worthy rival. Is there an existence of good art which is significantly related to poker?

Worthwhile references to the game in art are rare despite its immense popularity. With the elite pride of the devotees of some wonderful esoteric practice, they are cherished by some admirers. To my knowledge, poker in music features mainly in modern compositions, but for its expression in sound there does not seem to be much possibility. Video usually accompanies the more successful efforts, and these are restricted to MTV clips. References to poker in songs can be found although these being composed by well meaning fans or even by poker pros that are not that great with words or music, are offered with mostly half-heated solace.

Poker-inspired artwork in music that is the most significant that I am familiar with is The Card Party: Ballet in Three Deals which was first danced by Balanchine’s American Ballet Ensemble. It is one of the rarer curiosities poker admirers might want to see, with music by Stravinsky who also enjoyed poker as a pastime, it is more fanciful than accurate in representing the process of playing cards.

The most obvious example in painting form is Cassius Coolidge’s series of Dogs Playing Poker. Nineteen commercially oriented paintings using anthropomorphized dogs was the order in which these were a part of. It is not even the paintings which are iconic so much, these days, as the general concept of canines around a table in a dimly lit club smoking cigars.

Many works of art, in fact, tend to stylize poker and card games in general, blending them with fantastic themes. Alice in Wonderland would be the most obvious example. Alexander Pushkin’s The Queen of Spades is one of his most famous stories. It depicts a player who heard about a card trick from a friend and is desperate to learn it. The story begins as realism and culminates as a sort of card-game horror. An old woman guarding the secret is threatened by the man who desperate to learn the secret, threatens her with an unloaded pistol which unintentionally causes the woman to die from fear. Her corpse glares at him after opening its eyes at the funeral, then at home he is visited by her ghost which tells the secret. In the first game the man’s possessions are double. While playing another game the man knowingly holds an ace but appears to have played a queen causing him to lose everything. After being committed to an asylum in room seventeen he raves, “Three, seven, ace! Three, seven, queen. There is a BAFTA-nominated 1949 fantasy horror adaptation of the story by Thorold Dickinson for the film buffs.

Though not necessarily more accurate, poker tends to be criminally realistic in film, from Cincinnati Kid to Rounders with Edward Norton and Matt Damon.    Rounders did moderately in the box office but because of its decent depiction of the playing process it has become a cult film. Martin Scorsese gave us a memorable sequence in Casino, three years earlier, where by means of a hammer and De Niro’s poker-face threats a young pair of con poker players are expertly detected and deprived to cheat in any near future.

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Poker In Fine Art

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

Poker fans may enjoy collecting Poker Art, and there is a large enough industry churning out anything from Super Mario chip art to stylish monochrome photographs with titles such as Gunslinger and No Chance. Most of it, however, is primarily commercial products, with little or no nuance to entice the eye of a connoisseur.

What the serious poker player – with an eye for the game’s complex aesthetics – may have a general interest in whenever he is not busy challenging a worthy rival is poker in art: but does good art exist which is significantly related to poker?

Despite its immense popularity, worthwhile references to the game in art are rare and some admirers cherish them with the elite pride of the devotees of some wonderful esoteric practice. Poker in music, to my knowledge, features mainly in modern compositions, but there does not seem to be much possibility for its expression in sound. The more successful efforts are usually accompanied by video, and these are restricted to MTV clips. There are many songs which reference poker, but these offer mostly a half-hearted solace, composed by well meaning fans or even by poker pros that are not necessarily great with words or music.

The most significant poker-inspired artwork in music I am familiar with, and one which by its nature ideally fuses music with visuals, is The Card Party: Ballet in Three Deals, first danced by Balanchine’s American Ballet Ensemble. Music by Stravinsky, who enjoyed poker as pastime, it is one of the rarer curiosities poker admirers might want to see, though it is more fanciful than accurate in representing the process of playing cards.

In painting form, the most obvious example is Cassius Coolidge’s series of Dogs Playing Poker. These were part of an order for 19 commercially oriented paintings using anthropomorphized dogs. Nowadays, it is not even the original paintings which are iconic so much, as the general concept of cigar-smoking canines around a table in a dim-lit club.

In fact, many works of art tend to stylize poker and card games in general, blending them with fantastic themes. The most obvious example would be Alice in Wonderland. One of Alexander Pushkin’s most popular stories is The Queen of Spades which concerns a player desperate to learn a card trick he had heard about from a friend. The story begins as realism and culminates as a sort of card-game horror: the man is so desperate to learn the secret from the old widow guarding it that he threatens her with a pistol (unloaded), unintentionally causing her to die of fear. At the funeral, her corpse opens its eyes and glares at him; then her ghost visits him at his house and discloses the secret. In his first game afterwards the man doubles his possessions. He plays another, but though he knows he was holding an ace, somehow, he appears to have played a queen and lost everything. He is then committed to room 17 of an asylum, raving: Three, seven, ace! Three, seven, queen!. For the film buffs, there is a BAFTA-nominated
1949 British adaptation fantasy-horror adaptation of the story by Thorold Dickinson.

In film, poker tends to be criminally realistic (though not necessarily more accurate), from Cincinnati Kid to Rounders, with Edward Norton and Matt Damon. The last did moderately in the box office but has become a cult film precisely because of its decent depiction of the playing process. Three years earlier Martin Scorsese gave us a memorable sequence in Casino where a pair of con poker players are expertly detected and deprived of the ability to cheat in any near future by means of a hammer and De Niro’s efficient poker-face threats.

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