The artist Dan Robbins who created the the first paint-by-numbers pictures that fascinated America in the 1950s and helped to turn the kits into an American sensation has died on Monday at his home in Sylvania, Ohio at the age of 93.
The artist was in good health but fall sick in last month, said his son.
Robbins came up with the idea for painting by numbers when he was working as a package designer for the Palmer paint company in Detroit in 1940s. Robbins give this idea credit to Leonardo de Vinci.
“I remembered hearing that Leonardo used numbered background patterns for his students and apprentices, and I decided to try something like that.”
His works were dismissed first by some critics but later the Smithsonian, Institution’s National Museum celebrated the work
Robbins, whose works were dismissed by some critics.
Klein saw potential with the general idea and advised Robbins to think of something individuals would need to paint. The main variants were of scenes, and after that he fanned out to ponies, little dogs and cats.
“I did the first 30 or 35 subjects myself, then I started farming them out to other artists,” said Robbins.
However later his work celebrated by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History by exhibiting a collection of paint-by-number artworks in 2001.
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Paint-by-numbers Artist Dan Robbins Dies at Age 93
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