Paint-by-Numbers
MS
numbers works executed by anonymous artists have become collectibles and
may even hang soon in a temporary exhibition at the Smithsonian.
The paint-by-numbers craze originated a half-century ago as the
brainstorm of Palmer Paint Co. illustrator Dan Robins, now 73, who began
it, fittingly enough, in Detroit, where the assembly-line process was
perfected.
The fad peaked in the mid-1950s, when millions of the company's Craft
Master sets and their imitators were sold, boosting the sale of oil
paints in general and awakening artistic impulses in an entire
generation, Robbins said in an interview from his home in the Chicago
suburbs.
He recently published a book about the craze and his experiences, titled
_Whatever Happened to Paint-by-Numbers?_ (Possum Hill Press), in which
he writes that the idea occurred to him after he learned that Leonardo
da Vinci put numbers on assignments he gave to his apprentices.
Robbins' first paint-by-numbers design--small areas of the canvas are
numbered to correspond with the palette included in the kit--was an
abstract still life of a pitcher and a dish of fruit.
But Max Klein, his boss at the now-defunct Palmer Paint, nixed the
abstract and snarled at Robbins to create designs people would want to
paint.
"It was a little too arty," Robbins recalled. "When I showed it to the
boss, he said, "That's for people who fake their way through..."
Thus was born the corny aspect of many paint-by-numbers designs: cute
kittens, serene seascapes, and knockoffs of famous works by Rembrandt,
da Vinci and Norman Rockwell.
"What's happened in the last four or five years is there has been an
interest in paint-by-numbers as collectibles. They're part of our
cultural heritage and it's cool to collect them," Robbins said.
Collector Larry Rubin, a psychologist in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said he
had covered his paneled office walls floor-to-ceiling with many of his
300 canvases purchased at flea markets, yard sales, and even in
internet[s] auctions. His wife will tolerate only a few of the works in
their home.
"They make a lot of my patients nostalgic...and evoke certain thoughts
and feelings I use in therapy," Rubin said. "People either did them
themselves, or knew someone who did them, or hated them."
Well-executed paint-by-numbers canvases are becoming hard to find,
hesaid, noting that a framed copy of da Vinci's "The Last Supper"
recently sold for $175. He said his new quarterly newsletter on the fad
has 17 "deranged souls" as subscribers.
Also interested is curator Larry Bird at the Smithsonian Institutions's
National Museum of American Art in Washington, who said he has proposed
setting up a paint-by-numbers exhibition next year.
"I'm pitching it as a king of high-low look at the paint-by-number fad,"
Bird said, adding that he would use dozens of canvases willed to the
museum by Klein.
"Nothing exacerbated the tension between high and low culture as much as
this hugely popular fad, except for perhaps television," Bird said.
"Critics went into orbit over this ... calling people who did them
morons."
"It's a playful thing. I like the finished paintings. They have wit.
They're nicely framed."
Dozens of designers worked hard to create paint-by-numbers designs and
some even created free-hand works of their own that ended up in local
museums, Robbins said.
He said he occasionally lectured students--to the consternation of many
teachers--that the best paint-by-numbers designs could be compared to
the flitting brush strokes of impressionist works, in that small areas
of color mesh to evoke light, shadings and volume.
Bird agreed, saying, "This may have been a stepping-stone for people who
got a sense of shadings, or composition, or just how to hold a
paintbrush."
--Andrew Stern, Reuters
PRNancy
client...to publicize a ten-year summary of the group's events, I'm asking
local dignitaries to do paint-by-number scenes of annual highlights and then
autograph them. I'm not sure whether I'll lithograph the babies or "quilt"
them into a poster.
Anyway, when these folks are asked to do this rather unique statement of
charity, they inevitably recall past holidays and their favorite gifts....yup,
either jigsaw puzzles or paint-by-numbers on the dining room table. I think it
figures prominently in the family bonding scene, as well.
Thanks for the story, Martha!
Nancy, who's thinking of new ways to tweak the old master's paintings ;)
MS
>
> LOL! This is one of my latest brainstorming (imbecile) ideas for one
> client...to publicize a ten-year summary of the group's events, I'm asking
> local dignitaries to do paint-by-number scenes of annual highlights and then
> autograph them. I'm not sure whether I'll lithograph the babies or "quilt"
> them into a poster.
>
> Anyway, when these folks are asked to do this rather unique statement of
> charity, they inevitably recall past holidays and their favorite gifts....yup,
> either jigsaw puzzles or paint-by-numbers on the dining room table. I think it
> figures prominently in the family bonding scene, as well.
>
> Thanks for the story, Martha!
>
You're welcome. I *loved* p-b-n's when I was a kid--your mentioning
them as presents reminded me: what a great xmas gift they were (the
kits, I mean). I think what I liked was how different real oil paints
were from the poster paints watercolors I got to use all the time. I
really loved them, really, I mean.
My mamaw got into them in her later years; she painted a huge Parisian
street scene which she hung over the mantel in her parlor.
Martha
Hownow
>
> Well-executed paint-by-numbers canvases are becoming hard to find,
> hesaid, noting that a framed copy of da Vinci's "The Last Supper"
> recently sold for $175. He said his new quarterly newsletter on the fad
> has 17 "deranged souls" as subscribers.
>
> Also interested is curator Larry Bird at the Smithsonian Institutions's
> National Museum of American Art in Washington, who said he has proposed
> setting up a paint-by-numbers exhibition next year.
>
> "I'm pitching it as a king of high-low look at the paint-by-number fad,"
> Bird said, adding that he would use dozens of canvases willed to the
> museum by Klein.
>
> "Nothing exacerbated the tension between high and low culture as much as
> this hugely popular fad, except for perhaps television," Bird said.
> "Critics went into orbit over this ... calling people who did them
> morons."
>
> "It's a playful thing. I like the finished paintings. They have wit.
> They're nicely framed."
One of the reasons Iąve always loved the Canadian province of Quebec.
About 1958 or thereabouts I was at the annual Quebec Exposition and
touring the fairąs art gallery which featured a competitive showing of
Quebec artists. It was a public competition for a major cash prize and
anyone could enter.
One of the works that caught my attention was by Jean-Paul Riopelle,
the Montreal-born Tachist working in Paris who was gaining
international attention and whose works now hang in the prestigious
Pompidou Centre (the "Beaubourg").
Hanging next to the Riopelle was a by-gosh paint-by numbers
contribution from some grandpere or grandmere living in a Quebec
village somewhere who must have figured, "pourquois-pas?Š the ad says
itąs open to all Quebec artists, non?"
Anywhere else in Canada, the stuffed shirts would not have let the
paint-by-number contribution see the light of the gallery. In Quebec?
"Hey! The guy says heąs an artist Š
heąs an artist. His nameąs Rivard? R-I-V Š? That goes next to R-I-O Š"
Oh Š the Riopelle had the gold ribbon attached to it
hm
gary
MS wrote:
>
> Collecting art is often seen as an elite pursuit, but kitschy paint-by-
> numbers works executed by anonymous artists have become collectibles and
> may even hang soon in a temporary exhibition at the Smithsonian.
Thanks for posting this, Aunt Martha. Enjoyed it. I was just thinking
about paint-by-numbers the other day for some reason. I remember doing
one or two in my elementary school days, but back then I never had the
patience to finish, and all the paints would dry up and crack. Are the
kits still being sold?
--gary