Paint by Number: How to Craze That Swept the Nation

by William L. Bird Jr.

What is the fascination of paint by numbers? Is it the intoxicating and compulsive act of filling in small pools of color? Or the easy thrill of creating your own impressionist masterpiece? Or a fond nostalgic yearning for a craze that cut across national boundaries and age groups? Invented in 1951 by Dan Robbins-based on an idea used by Leonardo da Vinci to teach painting-the paint-by-number craze reached its zenith in the 1950s but continues even today as paints and kits are avidly collected, exhibited in galleries, and traded on eBay. In Paint By Number, author Larry Bird takes us on an unbelievable journey where art meets kitsch and popular and high cultures collide in a collage of home economics, leisure time fun, and art education, Bird revisits the hobby from the vantage point of the artists and entrepreneurs who created the popular paint kits, the critics who reviled them, and the consumers who enthusiastically filled them in and hung them in their homes. Paint By Number includes over 200 examples of paint-by-number ephemera and two pull-out paintings ready to be filled-in!

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, History

142 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2001

Reviews

[Dbvdb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I go this as a gift. I remember painting many of the panels pictured! It was a very interesting recount and broadened my thoughts about what the popularity of paint by number did to our culture.

It was a bit of a missed opportunity to add a bit more warmth and humor ... but it was as intended. I recommend this.. it would be good material for a young person's school paper.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great! I have a soft spot in my heart for any kind of creative hobbyists, even if paint by number gets a bad critical rap. Maybe this will inspire me to finish the horse head PBN I've had for a couple of years now.

I was also excited to see a painting I bought on eBay on page 49 - a foxhunting scene called "Full Cry." Ha!

[drazz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in one session. Found it in an ephemera-based library in San Francisco.

[Jeffrey Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice pictures, cool ephemera, kinda a look down the nose commentary, though. Hmmm.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glimpse into an era - opened up my thinking in regards how a "hobby" provides insight into a culture