Dan Robbins, a Detroit-based commercial artist for Palmer Show Card Paint marketing Company, was assigned a challenge in the early 1950s: develop an innovative method to promote more paints. As a result, he created the very first Paint By Number kit.
Paint By Numbers is an all-in-one artwork kit containing a brush, little pots of color, and a canvas with numbers specifying which color to paint each part. They’re quite easy to use and will enable you to fill in the picture with your colors. Each segment has a numeral, and each number correlates to a different color. He was inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci, who taught his disciples to paint using numbered designs on canvas. Do have a look at: Paint by Numbers Adults
First painting:
Abstract No. One was Robbins’ first Paint-by-Numbers set, and it was a vivid, surreal static life that paid tribute to the abstract expressionists of the day. However, the concept was not commercially viable enough just to attract the general public, so Robbins, Klein, and a new team of artists began producing less surreal landscape and portrait hobby models, which proved to be more successful.
PAINT-BY-NUMBER KITS WERE A FAMOUS PHENOMENON IN THE 1950S, GIVING ART AVAILABLE TO ALL AND STOPPING ART WORLD CONTROVERSY.
All through the 1950s, these Paint By Number sets, which contained the advertising slogan “Every Man a Rembrandt!” become a media hit, distributing tens of millions of copies.
Citizens had more recreational time during the postwar economic boom, and the painting sets imitated a creative work with a physical outcome – an aesthetic that could be placed in the homes of people. Thomas Edwin Stephens, President Eisenhower’s secretary, even coordinated a collection of Paint By Number paintings created by administrative personnel in the West Wing hallway of the White House.
Whether or not they were considered “genuine aesthetic” by the world of art, Paint by Numbers made art accessible to those with no creative expertise. “I never pretend that painting by number is art,” Dan Robbins said in his 1998 biography. It is the emotion of art, and it delivers that feeling to those who would never take up a paintbrush or dip it in paint otherwise.”
The Public’s Reaction
Following the popularity of paint by numbers, the palmer show card industry began to expand dramatically. Around 20 million sets were sold around the World, and completed works were proudly displayed in households across the country. Even President Eisenhower’s secretary, Thomas Edwin Stephens, arranged a museum of Paint by Number paintings created by White House personnel.
Conclusion
We were intrigued by the rich history of Paint By Numbers and the part they played in modern art history since the objective is to make art more available and identifiable.