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So I am in college and just started my art class. For the first week we had to write a paper on works of art that we enjoy. So I decided to write about baseball cards!!!!! I mean, the photo of the player on the card, thats art right? Photography??? And the designs on the cards and the colors. I never thought about baseball cards in this way, but now that I think about it, they really are pieces of art!!! Kinda neat if you think about it that way. Anyone else feel the same???

I do. Particularly vintage.

(06-02-2015, 06:23 PM)Hofcollector Wrote: [ -> ]I do. Particularly vintage.

+1 and yes they are art for me as well

I agree. The vintage cards and some of the mid 90s stuff like Flair.

1956 Topps is the most Art card in my opinion

(06-02-2015, 11:58 PM)magneto2 Wrote: [ -> ]1956 Topps is the most Art card in my opinion

For sure!!! Those 56s are great!!!

What is Art? Probably the most subjective question you can ask.
Everything is art, if it has visual appeal, IMO. Especially if it evokes an emotional response.
A car, a glass, a building. All 'Art'
Photography certainly is field of art, too.
The only problem is your art teacher. The subjectivity of your teacher can make your answer wrong or right, even though you think it's right. To me baseball cards are art as well. There are some cards that 'work' better for me than others. Some cards are just 'snap shots' and don't give me anything ... Others are more powerful, and whether it's the color, the portrait, or whatever ... It 'works' better than others.
Here's 2 examples where the composition is great, the color is great, there's something about them that are more 'artistic' than others. YMMV

Of course baseball cards are art. Sure some are more artful than others. It's all in the eye of the beholder. Personally I think the Topps Gallery line was a great example of art. Those late 90s Gallery cards even smell like oil paintings. Anyone else ever notice that?

My favorite Art piece! I have many more cards with higher BV, but this one I catch myself looking at every day! Maybe I have a man crush on Hammerin Hank.. I dunno? hahahah

This is a great topic and I'm glad it was brought up. I've been thinking about this for probably the last 2-3 years. There is absolutely no reason why sportscards couldn't be viewed as art. I'm mainly speaking about vintage and 90's inserts because that's what I collect and that's whats most visually appealing to me, but wouldn't argue with someone who thought a 2000 Topps base card was art. As was said before, it's in the eye of the beholder.
If you look at some of the designs of the 90's insert cards whether baseball, basketball of whatever, there almost non-existent today. There is a reason why these companies are coming out with "retro" and reprint cards. They just can't compete with the designs of cards from Flair, Skybox Premium, Ultra and many others. Even the early 90's baseball cards like Donruss and Topps I saw were being re-created in some modern retro cards.
Here is a picture of a 90's basketball insert that I recently picked up (sorry, I know this is a baseball thread but it's the only card I had saved on my computer lol). I love the picture itself, but the colors and the clouds in the background are just awesome.

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I just saw my decal picture (the one next to my name) and that also is one of my favorite cards. It's similar to the one I just posted with the electricity running through Jordan's body. It also has a green background which I love...maybe im partial to green. Either way, they are both really cool cards and both of which I consider art.