In conjunction with the exhibition Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions, join artists, conservators, curators, and conservation scientists for an afternoon symposium centered on the making of tarot cards.
The first session will examine and discuss the elaborate techniques used to make fifteenth-century tarot cards for the court of the Dukes of Milan. Conservators Frank Trujillo, Lydia Aikenhead, and Mare-France Lemay will detail the material techniques of the cards and conservation scientist Elena Basso will convey how cutting-edge technology reveals and confirms the materials used in the Renaissance. A curatorial overview by Joshua O’Driscoll will explore the art historical precedents for tarot cards. The second session will feature a lively conversation between curator Claire Gilman and artist Kim Krans focusing on a contemporary artist’s approach to creating tarot art.
2:30 PM Frank Trujillo, Drue Heinz Book Conservator, and Lydia Aikenhead, Assistant Book Conservator, Thaw Conservation Center, Morgan Library & Museum
3 PM Marie-France Lemay, Head of Paper and Photograph Conservation, Yale University Library
3:30 PM Elena Basso, Associate Research Scientist, Department of Scientific Research, Metropolitan Museum of Art
4:00 PM Joshua O’Driscoll, Melvin R. Seiden Curator and Department Head, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts, Morgan Library & Museum
4:30 PM Roundtable Discussion
5 PM Claire Gilman, Acquavella Curator and Department Head, Morgan Library & Museum in conversation with artist Kim Krans
This symposium takes place in Gilder Lehrman Hall on the Ground Floor. Doors to the Hall will open 30 minutes before the program begins. Attendees are encouraged to view the exhibition Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions during their museum visit.
This event is organized in partnership with the Morgan Museum & Library, the Conservation Center at the NYU IFA, and The Drawing Foundation.
Image: Bonifacio Bembo, Death from the Visconti-Sforza Tarot Cards (detail). Italy, Milan or Cremona, ca. 1456–58. The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.630.12. Leonora Carrington, Fire Elements (detail), 1969. Gouache on vellum. Collection of Lucid Art Foundation. © 2025 Leonora Carrington / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
