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ACEO stands for "Art Cards, Editions and Originals". These cards have one main rule - they are 3.5 inches by 2.5 inches - the size of a trading card.
The reason for this is, of course, that Art Cards are made to be traded! But while artists were happily trading cards, the general public was left out in the cold, having no Art Cards to trade. A group of artists realized this, and quickly made their cards available for sale at remarkably low prices so that everyone could join in the fun!

Cards are also sold either as originals or editions. Make sure you know which you are buying! If it is a print it should say so, and it should be numbered and signed, usually on the back.

Art Cards can be a riot! Artists from all over the world are creating, and now selling these little gems in different mediums and of different subjects. Watercolor, Oil, Acrylic, Colored Pencil, Pastels, Pyrography, Pen and Ink, Sketching, Collage - the sky is the limit. Abstract, Surrealism, Outsider Art, Impressionism, Expressionism -every style you can think of - and then some. Every interest and subject is covered!


To see my ACEO Picture Vault CLICK HERE

 Extremely collectable Pocket Art, you can't stop at just one! 



History of ACEOs

Art cards or miniatures were all the rage in the 16th century. They were mostly portraits and were sold, not traded or given away. They were the first wallet "photos". Men would have nudes painted of their Mistresses on art cards (without their wives knowing)--usually by the same Artist that would do the big family portraits of their wives.


Miniature Portraits would be used for exchange when rich people arranged marriages. In fact, this caused a big problem for poor Henry the Eighth, when the artist who painted his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, took a little too much "artistic license". Poor Anne was not up to standard and Henry divorced her.


The French artists were the first to come up with advertisement on the art cards. It wasn't until the mid 1700's that the English picked up on the idea of using the Art cards for advertising. The Art Cards of Europe are slightly larger than ours as is their standard deck of playing cards is much larger than ours.

During the Impressionist Age artists traded art cards among themselves to study each other's style and techniques. They also traded or sold the art cards as necessary for supplies, food and lodging


In 1887 "baseball" cards started to appear. These early cards are now very rare and it is uncertain what they were made of. It was not until the 1960s that the modern 2.5 x 3.5 size was standardized.


Today there is a resurgence of hand made art cards for sale and trade. So, Happy Collecting!!!


*Information obtained from: http://www.art-cards.org


To see all the ACEOs from this artist go to www.artbybelle.com
To Order ORIGINAL cards go to the artbybelle ACEO Store
For prints, head over to my Zibbet Store with the link below.

Thank you!
 







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