Vintage Paint By Number paintings are an ironic — and iconic — midcentury modern art form. They are really “low brow” — anyone can do one… But, they also fascinate us — there is something “elemental” about their beauty and “democratic” about the fact they even exist. Simple, graphic — and rendered by a normal person, like us!, back in the day when mass prosperity was emerging across America. They were… lovingly crafted… and as a result, they are easy to love, 50 years later. Over the past several years, I’ve seen vintage PBNs become more and more collectible. And on occasion, we see folks get epic with the art form and create their own Paint By Number murals, which are pretty darn groovy. For this story, I found several great resources detailing the history of Paint By Number paintings — including important social history… and we’ll talk about how best to display paint by number art. Actually, display tip #1 and only, IMHO: As Troy has done with PBN dog collection (above) — group your PBNs for maximum impact.
Read on for the fascinating history of Paint by Number kits –>
The history of Paint By Number Kits:
Paint By Number kits were so common, so popular, such a part of the American decorating scheme, that the Smithsonian created a whole exhibit around them in 2001. Their accompanying educational website, still online today, is an awesome resource for Paint By Number history. Their introduction gets right to the point and says that, while Americans loved their PBNs, critics had a snit fit:
Paint by Number: Accounting for Taste in the 1950s revisits the hobby from the vantage point of the artists and entrepreneurs who created the popular paint kits, the cultural critics who reviled them, and the hobbyists who happily completed them and hung them in their homes. Although many critics saw “number painting” as a symbol of the mindless conformity gripping 1950s America, paint by number had a peculiarly American virtue. It invited people who had never before held a paintbrush to enter a world of art and creativity.
The Smithsonian explains who invented the kits — go, Detroit! — and how quickly the phenomenon took hold:
The making of the fad is attributed to Max S. Klein, owner of the Palmer Paint Company of Detroit, Michigan, and to artist Dan Robbins, who conceived the idea and created many of the initial paintings. Palmer Paint began distributing paint-by-number kits under the Craft Master label in 1951. By 1954, Palmer had sold some twelve million kits. Popular subjects ranged from landscapes, seascapes, and pets to Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Paint-kit box tops proclaimed, “Every man a Rembrandt!”
Interestingly — and not surprising to me, at all — the Smithsonian says that Dan Robbins wanted the first kits to be exploration of modern art, cubism and the like. No way, said America! Folks wanted cozy landscapes and such. Yes: Colonial and Early American, not those hi-falutin modernist things.
The Smithsonian exhibit also explored the growth of leisure and how that helped fuel pursuits like PBN painting. Paint By Number gets “deep” when considered in the context of the continuing growth of democracy and meritocracy in America. I love this aspect of American culture. Love love love it. The Smithsonian says:
Writing in Life magazine in the late 1950s, cultural critic Russell Lynes set out to describe the popular pastimes of the “new leisure.” He observed that the usual markers of class-education, wealth, and breeding-no longer applied. The one thing that mattered was something that everyone had. That something, Lynes explained, was free time. In postwar America, class had become a matter of how one spent his or her free time.
Over the decades, the Smithsonian curators say, the Paint By Number aesthetic became so ingrained in our culture that other artists began to use it as a political launching point for their work. Kind of Andy Warhol-esque stuff. Remember that story I did on what is the difference between Kitsch and Camp? By around the year 2000, vintage PBNs started become collectible. Today in 2012, I’d say they are super collectible — although prices are still “affordable”, especially if you find these at estate sales where I live, because everyone did PBNs! There are 12 million Craft Master PBNs out there!
According to Wikipedia:
Following the death of Max Klein in 1993, his daughter, Jacquelyn Schiffman, donated the Palmer Paint Co. archives to the Smithsonian Museum of American History.
The Palmer Paint Co. is still in business, and in 2011, they introduced two, 60th anniversary prints, which are still available for sale today. You can buy them here.
Read the entire Smithsonian history here. It’s a quick read, very entertaining, and lots of photos you can click on and see bigger.
Yes, there is even a book (affiliate link above) written to go with the Smithsonian exhibit.
Dan Robbins website
Dan Robbins has his own website, book and video, too! It looks good!:
The Chicago Tribune interviewed Robbins in 2005. He explained the genesis of the idea for PBNs:
“The idea was an evolution,” Robbins said. “It was a gradual process of exposing this idea, then that idea, then another. I recalled reading about Leonardo da Vinci, and when he got large and complicated commissions, he would give numbered patterns to his apprentices to block in areas for him that he’d go back and finish himself. From there, it was a matter of proving the concept to see if it could be done.”
In the Tribune article, I learned that the company Craft Master was sold in 1959, and over the years passed through a number of hands. Today, the brand and designs are owned by Craft House, the 1995 article said, and indeed, I found some Paint by Number kits — including some vintage-y looking ones for sale at CraftHouse.
The Paint by Numbers Online Museum
AND, woah Nelly: There is even an online Paint By Number Museum – an amazing archive created by a collector in Massachusetts who wiki says has assembled some 6,000 PBNs. The PBN Museum is darn impressive — you can search and see all the kits and catalogs. There’s a great library. And, there’s a page on artist Dan Robbins with more history, pointing out:
Who is the most exhibited artist in the world? The work of paint by number designer Dan Robbins has been displayed on more walls than that of any other artist. This was true in the past, is still true today and is most likely a record that will stand in the future.
Collecting and displaying vintage Paint by Number paintings
As I mentioned at the top of this article, I am a 100% believer in grouping small painting collections like this, for maximum decorative impact. When Todd lived in his first place, he had the dogs in a grid on one wall. When he moved to his Eichler, Troy came up with another variation on the “grouping” idea: Arranging the collection of dog paint-by-number paintings as a gallery along the hall.
Above: Crown Prince of Kitsch Cullen‘s kitchen — I’m not sure if he really has a many PBNs up on that wall, but this is a great shot to illustrate two ideas. (1) Again, the effectivess of creating tight groupings to display your collections of like-pieces. And (2) While Troy collects just dog PBNs — which makes for a fun collection, Cullen collects pieces according to a theme that includes other varieties of art and collectibles.
Above: Collect cowboy stuff? Add a cowboy PBN. That Betty Crafter knows how to stage a photo…
From AT
Finally, how is this for “some therapy”: Apartment Therapy profiled two people – one – and two – who created paint by number wall murals onto their walls — entire walls. Wow, these may be even more epic than when I covered the four walls of my office with a patchwork of 300 squares of vintage wallpaper. Atomic Ranch also had a story in a recent issue about someone doing this. Seems like the basic how-to is: (1) Find a PBN you like, (2) Scan it in very high resolution, (3) Print onto a transparency, (4) Project the transparency onto the wall, (5) Outline the colors and as you go, write in the color numbers, (6) Figure out which colors go where, (7) Drop out of civil society as we collectively know it and paint until your eyes bug out of your head, (8) ta da, celebrate your epic achievement, but don’t look too closely at your errors. Not Perfect is the New Perfect.
Pam, this is such a wonderful addition to the “reminisce” department! There were five kids in my family and we all did paint by number paintings! My father removed the TV in the late fifties; it was strange to all of our friends that we did not have a TV, but even stranger because my father sold furniture, appliances and televisions! So we found other avenues to amuse ourselves and spent much more time outside playing or inside with craft projects than most kids did. I also had about six plastic birds which I painted. They stand on a tree branch and I remember how I HATED having to dust them! When we cleaned out the house, we found them in the attic so I still have them! I never would have thought PNB’s would turn out to be collectible; I am sure none of ours got saved.
Yup, I sure did them in Jr. High. I wasn’t that good at them because I’m more of a paint outside the lines kind of girl. But it did inspire me to take real painting classes and I eventually went to art school and became good enough to regularly show my assemblage pieces a local gallery. It was the start of my evolution.
I love this, Pam! Great write up. I’m a “collector” of dog PBNs, but my collection is FAR smaller than Troy’s. In fact, I don’t have them hanging anywhere because I don’t have many at all. I find the dog ones are hard to come by (locally, at least).
These had always had a special place with me. My generation never seemed to get into paint by number, buts my grandparents were fans. I can still remember their work hanging in the hallways. I would love to find them and put them in my home. For now, I seem to find these at thrift stores and antique fairs quite often for pretty cheap. They are a nice addition to a mid-century home for someone on a budget!
When in Louisiana, check out the Abita Springs Mystery House, which houses the world’s largest collection of paint by numbers works. That roadside attraction is the cat’s pajamas! http://abitamysteryhouse.com/
What a great story!! My first recollection of paint by number back in the 50′s was the pair of framed ballerinas oil paintings in the living room of my childhood home. Money was tight for home decor so my Dad created his own. Was never quite sure why he chose ballerinas. Many years later when my Dad retired and was bored in the Winter he liked to do hobbies. Hand building and crafting amazing ships was his love but when he ran out of room to display them he had to stop crafting them so I started buying him paint by numbers for his birthday. I wish I had the patience he had for this hobby. I have so many wonderful paint by number works of art in my home thanks to my Dad. I also have a couple of unopened paint by numbers I bought him that never got done as his health failed and he passed on. I am hoping to someday open them and do them myself. They won’t be as good as my Dad’s though. What I wish I had is the original ballerina ones from the 50′s. I did see a finished pair on Ebay once but it wouldn’t have been the same as having the ones my Dad did.
What a sweet story, Mary.
I spent much of the ’50′s as a fairly sickly, only child. The paint by numbers kits kept me happy while indoors as I recovered from one thing after another.
The florals were my forte. It was so fascinating to see how all the little numbered areas of color came together into your very own masterpiece. I can still smell the PBN paints in my olfactory memory.
Thanks for a sweet memory, Pam.
I love PBN. I have some that my father did that I cherish, and that got me started collecting a few more. I have 3 fabulous 50s street scenes of Paris. The Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and I think a bridge. The colors are so vivid and the people in the scene are fantastic. I only have 13 or 14, but I would love to have more.
“Only 13 or 14″? That’s a pretty good collection!
Well, yes I guess it is. Just that I want to be a PBN horder, so years from now they will find me under a pile of horse and covered bridge PBN pictures. ; )
I love this post, Pam! We only have one PBN (which we love and you can see here: http://www.thissortaoldlife.com/2012/04/16/thrift-store-art/) mostly because they’ve gotten pretty spendy here in the Portland area. The one we’ve got I found for $10, but they’re often closer to $100. Maybe PBN would be a good subject for one of your gallery collections? Would love to see what others have.
$100 in Portland! I’m going to start buying them up here in Mass. and exporting them to Portland for sale! I’ll be rich rich rich! Yes, uploader to come!
I have four. I got interested in them a few months ago and didn’t think I would find any here. Those crazy decorating Gods came through… I have one of a horse I found at a local Bissel centre for a dollar (a dollar!). The frame was in rough shape, but my hubby fixed it right up and spray painted the frame black, which looks great with the blue sky. I have three of landscapes – two a friend bought for me at a different Bissel centre – and one I bought at an antique store. I love them and have been wondering how/where to hang them. I’m going to group them after reading this great article…
Cool! Bissel Centres?? A Canadian thing?
Hmmmm, foolish me…I didn’t know the answer to that, so I looked it up online. I think the Bissel centre is only here in Edmonton, Alberta. People, correct me if I’m wrong… this is the link in Edmonton http://bissellcentre.org/….I bought one of the paintings (the horse) at a place called “Find” that has ties to the Bissel centre, Habitat for Humanity, John Howard etc….I love this place. I go there a lot; to find glassware, furniture (bought a great old dresser there), records (my 14-year old son loves old records) and sometimes just to see what’s there! http://findedmonton.com/ …so there you go, I know a little more today than I did yesterday ( a little… :0)).
I still have the paint-by-numbers horse head that my mother painted back in the early 1970s. She added extra highlighting and shading to her piece, something that I don’t believe was a part of the instructions. I only ever did one paint-by-number myself (as a kid), and I don’t know what ever happened to it. I thought my mother had painted several of them, but the horse is the only one I have, and I treasure it because my mother passed away when I was fifteen and I am now an artist. My piece isn’t framed (something I should do), but it sits in my studio, not only as a reminder of my childhood, but of her.
Thanks for this article, and the link to the museum. I’ve bookmarked it.
I must be visiting the wrong places because I’ve never seen any for sale in person. lol
I have 3 PBN that my Great Aunt painted. A set of sailboats and a Chinese boat which she signed on the back as a gift to her brother in 1957.
And for some reason I have only one that I painted in the 60′s – a Panda!
Thanks for all the cool resources and history Pam.
These are all great stories! Wonderful memories!
Alas, I have no family members who ever did PBN’s….but I now own 3, compliments of eBay. They are one of my favorite art forms, and still relatively affordable – especially when compared to other artwork!
Thank you for posting this Pam, and I *really* can’t wait to see the uploader filled with everyone’s PBN’s!
Pam,
Thanks for this wonderful story, but now I have another HUGE distraction from the work I am supposed to be doing today! I will have to bookmark the museum so I can visit it whenever I want! I do collect PBN’s and find them to be the most charming accents to my den. I like the blues/greens/pinks in the swan and bridge style compositions, but have a perfectly beautiful framed collie in a place of honor, along with some winterscapes, a seascape, and a fantastic parrot. I like to change them around with the seasons. I love these because they are so humble. I have tried some of the newer ones and finished a few, but I like the graphics of the older oils better than the newer acrylics. I just love the colors, the themes, and the orderliness of the finished paintings.
What a great article! AND I love to see other readers’ collections too. What fun! Thanks again. Will try to haul myself back to the task at hand here and not peek at the museum until I’m finished ….. sigh.
I live right by Pamer Paints hq here in the ‘burbs of Detroit (Troy, MI to be exact)…. their marquee sign in the front of their building even reads “Inventors of Paint By Number”… I always thought how cool is that?!
Oops, meant “Palmer”
My sister and I painted a set of PBN wooden Christmas ornaments in the early 1970s. There were about two dozen ornaments, in shapes such as Santa and Mrs. Santa, reinbdeers, bells, and candy canes. My mom still hangs them on her tree, and when I see them I have happy memories of festive painting sessions at the dining table. My mom looks at them and remembers how much she had to nag my sister and me to get them finished so we could get them on the tree before that holiday season was over and done with!
I love paint-by-number! I can’t believe the ones I painted as a pre-teen so many years ago, and the ones my mom painted and hung in our living room are so special today! But I understand it!
I’ve been wanting to collect these for a few years. I thought a whole wall of them would look great in our basement rec-room. Now that I’ve filled up the largest blank wall with vintage felt pennants, I’ll have to just enjoy looking at them here. Great story and photos, Pam!
I would love Palmer to reissue the old ones. Also, remember how inexpensive they were? My siblings and I always got a new one for Christmas!!
I have started a few but it’s just so much easier to pick them up for $1 all ready to hang. Plus it’s funny because anyone who visits always asks if I’ve painted all of them…yeah…sure!
Intentionally or not, each artist has added their own personal touch so I love the quirkiness of each of them. My new favorites are my street scene pair which I paid $2 for at a church sale a few weeks ago. The lady at the check out said “oh good, someone was looking at frames. Frames are so expensive and no one ever looks past the pictures and sees usable frames.” I just nodded, paid and went on my way
Love this, Pam! In 2001, I collected perhaps 100 PxN’s, mostly on eBay, to hang at my retro-ironic Porches Inn. They’ve been a great success…and a fun counterpoint to the giant contemporary art museum across the street! I heard about one collector who had a wall of nine Mona Lisa’s. (Mona is a HUGE PxN and very rare now.I only have one that’s rather poorly painted.) To me, an important element is the original 50s/60s frame. Thanks for the Smithsonian info which was new to me!
Loved them as a kid; and my kids (now teenagers) still paint them. You can often find older kits in small town five-and-dime stores that, thankfully, are still around. Think it was Country Living that published a story a few months ago with a homeowner that displayed a great collection of The Last Supper PBNs. Thank you for a great post today!
Pam, thanks for the links and the trip down memory lane. My sister and I did a few of these when kids. I’ll have to ask her if she remembers what they were. My mother always included art/crafts, model kits in birthday and christmas presents. Who knew they would become collectable.
Pam, what a delightful read (especially after a week of the flu)! I actually began collecting PBNs (horse-themed) years ago and have a small gallery (hm, maybe ten or eleven?) of them on my office wall, opposite my desk. (Just a few of them need framing for it to be “complete”, whatever THAT means…) It’s like my own little landscape! Now I’m on the hunt for (in addition to more horsey ones) one or two of a collie, since we have a collie and, well, it would just fit. Unless I can find an unused kit…that would be great, I could make it look just like Ben!
Oddly, I do not remember doing any PBNs as a kid, and I was a little artist even then—I had everything from coloured pencils to watercolours and oils. And me being a Detroit girl, too—how odd! But at least one of my vintage PBNs has a Detroit label on it. That makes me feel a little better.
Thanks for this read, Pam, it really was a delight, and the links will be fun to go through as well now that I’m able to lift my head again.
I do love vintage PBN but have never found any & the prices were so high on ebay…there were a few pretty ones that I so wanted. I’ve only painted one when I was a kid – it was a cocker spaniel. I have a new one (roses) I bought on a whim at Michaels a few years ago and it still remains unpainted…I think I just like the 50s vintage ones anyway.
Just a few days ago, while cleaning out my grandparents’ mid mod house (I’m about to move in!), I found a couple of PBN’s that my mom did as a tween in the late ’50s! One is an elk and the other…well, I can’t remember!…but they’re fab and soooo 50s! Mom grew up to become an artist and says that PBN’s actually contributed to her growing interest in art as a child.
My mom was a ‘painter-by-number’, and I remember most vividly her painting the beautiful cathedral in France that has the large rose window. Soon after, at the young age of 9, I began spending rainy afternoons painting by number in the screened in porch that was on the side of the detached garage. I can still remember the drizzling rain and it’s fresh scent mingled in with the smell of paint. Glorious, carefree days.
Today, I went to the beach with my kids.
I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and
said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.”
She placed the shell to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear.
She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is completely off topic but I had to tell someone!
classic!
Hello, I am looking for the “Moonlight Rhapsody” paint by number. Does anyone know where I can find it? I am having a very hard time. Thank you!!!