ADULT COLORING/ACTIVITY BOOKS

Taking Back Coloring Books

Coloring Books aren’t just for children, and they weren’t meant to be.

According to historians, coloring books began as a way to bring art directly to people. Painting books and coloring books emerged in the United States, in the 1800s, as part of the "democratization of art" movement. The movement was inspired by a series of lectures by British artist Joshua Reynolds (1723 – 1792), and the works of Swiss educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827). Pestalozzi’s motto was, “Learning by head, hand, and heart."

Researchers at the time concluded that, regardless of background, people could benefit from art education as a means of enhancing their conceptual understanding, developing their cognitive abilities, and improving skills that could be useful in finding a job, as well as for children's spiritual edification.

The McLoughlin Brothers are credited as the inventors of the coloring book, as we know it. In 1880, the brothers produced “The Little Folks' Painting Book,” in collaboration with Kate Greenaway.

They continued to publish coloring books until the 1920s when the McLoughlin Brothers became part of the Milton Bradley Company.

Another coloring book leader was Richard F. Outcault. He created “Buster's Paint Book” in 1907, featuring the character of Buster Brown, which he had invented in 1902. It was published by the Stokes Company.

Outcault and Buster Brown launched a trend of using coloring books to advertise a wide variety of products, including coffee and pianos.

Until the 1930s, books were designed with the intent for them to be painted instead of colored. Even when crayons came into extensive use in the 1930s, books were still designed so that they could be painted or colored.

In subsequent decades, the trend to use coloring books as advertising or promotional material took off. As more children enjoyed crayons and other fun utensils, coloring books steered almost exclusively to the children’s market. Filled with the popular cartoon and movie characters, children of the last few decades have grown up, learning to color between the lines in their favorite coloring book.

In the 2010s, during the period of economic downturn known as the Great Recession, a resurgence of coloring books for adults took the world by storm. Coloring helps deal with anxiety and other pressures by letting the person coloring focus on something entirely outside of themselves.