Dan Robbins, an artist who created the first paint-by-numbers pictures and helped turn the kits into an American sensation during the 1950s, has died. He was 93.

Robbins, whose works were dismissed by some critics but later celebrated by the Smithsonian InstitutionB次元官网网址檚 National Museum of American History, died Monday in Sylvania, Ohio, said his son, Larry Robbins.

He had been in good health until a series of falls in recent months, his son said.

Robbins was working as a package designer for the Palmer Paint Company in Detroit when he came up with the idea for paint-by-numbers in the late 1940s. He said his inspiration came from Leonardo da Vinci.

B次元官网网址淚 remembered hearing that Leonardo used numbered background patterns for his students and apprentices, and I decided to try something like that,B次元官网网址� Robbins said in 2004.

READ MORE:

He showed his first attempt B次元官网网址� an abstract still life B次元官网网址� to his boss, Max Klein, who promptly told Robbins he hated it.

But Klein saw potential with the overall concept and told Robbins to come up with something people would want to paint. The first versions were of landscapes, and then he branched out to horses, puppies and kittens.

B次元官网网址淚 did the first 30 or 35 subjects myself, then I started farming them out to other artists,B次元官网网址� said Robbins, who mainly stuck to landscapes.

While the Craft Master paint-by-numbers kits werenB次元官网网址檛 embraced initially, sales quickly took off and peaked at 20 million in 1955. Within a few years, though, the market was flooded, sales dropped and Klein sold the company.

Together, Robbins helped create slices of Americana that are still collected and are found framed in homes across the nation. Palmer still sells at least two kits: one remembering the Sept. 11 attacks and the other depicting the Last Supper.

B次元官网网址淲e like to think dad was one of the most exhibited artists in the world,B次元官网网址� said Larry Robbins. B次元官网网址淗e enjoyed hearing from everyday people. He had a whole box of fan letters.B次元官网网址�

He noted his fatherB次元官网网址檚 accomplishments are still on display at the Detroit Historical Museum, B次元官网网址渞ight down from Henry Ford,B次元官网网址� his son said.

Robbins, who spent much of his life in the Detroit area, was modest about his work and didnB次元官网网址檛 get too bothered by those who mocked the paintings.

Critics came to view the paint-by-numbers kits as a metaphor for a commercialized, cookie-cutter culture and fretted that they far outnumbered the original works of art hanging in American homes, said William Lawrence Bird Jr., curator of the 2001 exhibition at the National Museum of American History.

Some within the museum questioned the idea of celebrating the paint-by-numbers craze and its impact on art, at least until the crowds showed up, Bird said.

B次元官网网址淗e would say, B次元官网网址業 didnB次元官网网址檛 think of this, Leonardo did,B次元官网网址滲次元官网网址� Bird said. B次元官网网址淗e was amused that people were collecting them.B次元官网网址�

When his paint-by-numbers days were over, Robbins continued to work in product development, including designing Happy Meal toys for McDonaldB次元官网网址檚, Bird said.

Robbins, who wrote a book, B次元官网网址淲hatever Happened to Paint-by-Numbers,B次元官网网址� said at the exhibitionB次元官网网址檚 April 2001 opening in Washington that his creation survived despite the critics.

READ MORE:

B次元官网网址淚 never claim that painting by number is art,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淏ut it is the experience of art, and it brings that experience to the individual who would normally not pick up a brush, not dip it in paint. ThatB次元官网网址檚 what it does.B次元官网网址�

Robbins is survived by his wife, Estelle, sons Michael and Larry, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

B次元官网网址斺赌斺赌�

Like us on Facebook and follow us on .