If you have attended the UK Tarot Conference in the past you will know that we have an amazing auction which helps to raise money for our Bursary fund. This year we have something quite special. I am not sure at this stage if both or just one poster will be up for auction but please contact me if you are interested.
The Harris collection: A rare set of 2 out of 3 Freemason posters known as Tracing Boards. Each depict what’s known in craft Freemasonry as the First, Second and Third Degree boards and represent a codified example of moral, intellectual and spiritual development. This set of tracing boards are unique in that they were drawn by Lady Frieda Harris to which only a few hundred were made and even fewer that remain in excellent condition. The Tracing Boards are from a time when Harris was a Co-Mason:
Co-Masonry is, in brief, an offshoot of the Theosophical Society that, admits both men and women into Co-Masonic Lodges. Because Co-Masonry operates in breach of the landmarks of the United Grand Lodge of England, by admitting women, it has never been recognized as a regular branch of the society of Freemasons by regularly constituted bodies. Many regular Masons, however, appreciate the history of the Co-Masonic order and the sincerity of purpose and valuable philosophical contributions made by individual members of Co-Masonry, including Lady Harris’s renditions of the Tracing Boards… These evocative interpretations of the First, Second and Third Degree Tracing Boards were originally painted by Lady Frieda Harris. The designs incorporate the symbolism of the traditional Tracing Boards, but are distinctive for their modernity, and use of dynamic symmetry in rendering the designs
[Harris’s] designs were undoubtedly influenced by her artistic training and experience. In 1937, Lady Harris began studying Projective Synthetic Geometry under the direction of Olive Whicher and George Adams based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner and Goethe. Frieda Harris also had utilized Projective Synthetic Geometry in her work designing the Thoth Tarot cards for Aleister Crowley: These cards were completed for exhibition in approximately 1942. She had considerable talent in esoteric art works. -Freemasons of California, Mill Valley Lodge 356
The 2 posters (24ins x 14ins, c. 1975) are framed, under archival glass and in excellent condition.
A rare set of 2 out of 3 Freemason posters known as Tracing Boards. Each depict what’s known in craft Freemasonry as the First, Second and Third Degree boards and represent a codified example of moral, intellectual and spiritual development. This set of tracing boards are unique in that they were drawn by Lady Frieda Harris to which only a few hundred were made and even fewer that remain in excellent condition. The Tracing Boards are from a time when Harris was a Co-Mason:
Co-Masonry is, in brief, an offshoot of the Theosophical Society that, admits both men and women into Co-Masonic Lodges. Because Co-Masonry operates in breach of the landmarks of the United Grand Lodge of England, by admitting women, it has never been recognized as a regular branch of the society of Freemasons by regularly constituted bodies. Many regular Masons, however, appreciate the history of the Co-Masonic order and the sincerity of purpose and valuable philosophical contributions made by individual members of Co-Masonry, including Lady Harris’s renditions of the Tracing Boards… These evocative interpretations of the First, Second and Third Degree Tracing Boards were originally painted by Lady Frieda Harris. The designs incorporate the symbolism of the traditional Tracing Boards, but are distinctive for their modernity, and use of dynamic symmetry in rendering the designs
[Harris’s] designs were undoubtedly influenced by her artistic training and experience. In 1937, Lady Harris began studying Projective Synthetic Geometry under the direction of Olive Whicher and George Adams based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner and Goethe. Frieda Harris also had utilized Projective Synthetic Geometry in her work designing the Thoth Tarot cards for Aleister Crowley: These cards were completed for exhibition in approximately 1942. She had considerable talent in esoteric art works.
-Freemasons of California, Mill Valley Lodge 356
The 2 posters (24ins x 14ins, c. 1975) are framed, under archival glass and in excellent condition. They were purchased in the UK from the reputable collector of occult books and art. These posters have their own history. The original paintings were acquired by British Occultists in the 1970’s. Around 1976 a few hundred sets of these posters were printed. This is the only publication of these designs that there has been. Posters survive far less well than books, which are only rarely pinned to walls! Moreover posters are not collected by libraries, and their existence is not recorded in catalogues and bibliographies.