What developments created the market for limited edition art?
Hand-painted limited edition art was originally created by studios and their artists to satisfy growing collector demand for production art that was no longer available. Additionally, there has been a shift in the filmmaking process away from hand-painted production cels and into computer-finished animation. As a result, hand-painted limited edition cels may be the only important works of art available to the collector market from many recent films and productions. These developments created a new segment in the marketplace which has matured into an important element of collecting animation art. Another reason for this is the increasing notoriety of many living legends from the Golden Age of Animation. Many have created highly desirable limited editions – in many cases hand-signed – inspired by films or cartoons they worked on or directed in the 1930’s, 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s including Chuck Jones, Hanna-Barbera, Walt Disney and Friz Freleng.
