![]() In 2011, to commemorate the 60 th anniversary of Paint By Number, Robbins collaborated with Palmer Paint Products and the non-profit service organization Voices of September 11 th to create a Paint By Number kit, titled Gone But Not Forgotten, depicting the New York City skyline with a silhouetted view of the Twin Towers ( included in the Peggy Grant Collection). “Gone But Not Forgotten” limited edition print of Dan Robbins’ 2011 Paint By Number design, from the collection of Peggy Grant He was a consultant to the 2001 Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History exhibition, Paint By Number: Accounting for Taste in the 1950s and the author of What Ever Happened To Paint-By-Numbers? A humorous personal account of what it took to make anyone an “artist” (available for sale through 20 North Gallery). Dan Robbins with his favorite Paint By Number design, “Old Mill Stream,” painted by his mother.Īfter two decades of designing and marketing paintings that promoted “the art of leisure,” Robbins moved to Illinois to head his own Chicago-area advertising agency and became the definitive expert of the Paint By Number genre, spending many years lecturing, researching and archiving Paint By Number history. Upon the meteoric success of the brand, Robbins hired additional designers and moved into the position of head of art direction and marketing for Palmer Paints and, later, the Craft Master company of Toledo (Ohio). After trial and error, Robbins’ painting kits became arguably the most beloved-and most maligned-hobby of the “new leisure class” of 1950s Americans. ![]() Often described as “the most exhibited artist in the world,” Dan Robbins was the original designer of the Paint By Number concept that quickly became a cultural phenomenon in America-and made it possible ‘to make anyone an “artist.”’ Even more than sixty-five years after first launching the brand, canvases of his design still proudly hang on the walls of homes throughout the nation.Įmployed by the Palmer Paint Company in Detroit (Michigan) as a freelance commercial artist, Robbins based his concept on Leonardo da Vinci’s practice of numbering sections of his canvases for apprentices to complete. – Condessa Croninger, Art Director, 20 North Gallery Dan Robbins’ Paint By Number self portrait Dan Robbins ![]() When she learned of Robbin’s death, Peggy Grant said, “I have so much to thank him for.” As I write this, my attention is drawn to his obituary notices flooding my search bar-from New York to Los Angeles, London to Hong Kong-and I think, “Indeed, Peggy, we all do.” Thank you, Dan. Many years later, Peggy became the art director for 20 North and often enjoyed welcoming her old friend Dan Robbins to exhibit and speak about Paint By Number history. The newly married Grants, as well as the Robbins family, moved to Toledo in 1955, when the company was sold to the Donofrio family. At Craft Master, she met her husband, the late Adam Grant who was Robbins’ first hire. He hired her as a Paint By Number designer in 1952, launching her lifelong professional career in the arts. On a more personal level, Dan was a dear friend of Peggy Grant. ![]() During his engaging and entertaining presentation, Robbins’ roguish charm and self-effacing humor belied his status as game-changer of monumental scale in the art world, in forever altering America’s definition of “Art.” His incredibly accessible (and, yes, often downright kitschy) Paint By Number concept made it possible for anyone and everyone to be a part of-and have an opinion about-what it means to be an artist. ![]()
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