Welcome to the Association of Miniature Artists [AMA]

Miniature art has been in existence for centuries tracing its heritage back to the illustrated manuscripts of scribes in the Far East and Europe prior to the 15th century. The current resurgence in popularity in miniature art started in 1896 in England and expanded worldwide in the late 1900’s. 

The contemporary revival in miniature art has been marked by a clear move towards explicitly including size and scale in the general description of the works. In an effort to encourage and further define the direction of the artform most contemporary societies have adopted a one-sixth scale guideline. This rule states subjects should be rendered one-sixth their life size or smaller with some leeway given to naturally small subjects (hummingbirds, butterflies and delicate flowers).

Some societies place no guidelines on subject size and limit only the image area. Framing guidelines have been loosened lately to include more molding styles and sizes as long as the overall framed work falls under the set size. Most societies encourage delicate frames matching the proportions of the artwork. 

Foremost in importance in contemporary miniature art is the highly skilled and painstaking techniques should be evident upon viewing the artwork. This is often defined as the work should hold up well under magnification. It should draw the viewer’s eye deeper and deeper into itself with amazement at the gemlike details of the tiny treasure.

The ultimate goal of the AMA is to develop an international standard for miniature art today. It was  conceived and founded by members of the Yahoo Miniature Art Forum in July 2007. Please feel free to copy this page and any other ”text” in this web site.   Any images in this web site (besides the AMA logo) may not be copied without permission. A full text version (in PDF format)  of all the information  available in this web site can be found by clicking on the Welcome to the AMA link.

1. Miniature portrait of an Unknown Man, 1659 (w/c on vellum), Cooper, Samuel (1609-72)  /  Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK,   /  The Bridgeman Art Library

2. Text on page courtesy of  Wes Siegrist.

Updated February 1, 2008
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