Paint By Number: Accounting for Taste in the 1950's

Grade Range: 5-12
Resource Type(s): Reference Materials
Date Posted: 11/1/2009

This online resource revisits the hobby of Paint by Number 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. Students will learn how paint-by-number became a popular hobby in the United States during the 1950s and will gain insight into the debate over the rise of increased consumerism after World War II.


Instructional Strategies