John B. Fairbanks

Life & Legacy

John B Fairbanks (December 27, 1855, in Payson, Utah – June 15, 1940, in Salt Lake City) was an American landscape painter. In 1890, he was one of a group of artists who studied in Paris under the sponsorship of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), in preparation for painting murals at the nearly completed Salt Lake Temple. He painted murals in the Salt Lake Temple and the Mesa Arizona Temple that still exist today. Fairbanks was the official photographer for the South American expeditions of Benjamin Cluff. Fairbanks was the first artist to live and paint in Zion National Park. He was an early art instructor at Brigham Young Academy and was one of the founding members of the Utah Art Institute. Fairbanks was the father of artists John Leo Fairbanks (painter and sculptor), Ortho Lane Fairbanks (1887-1962; sculptor) and Avard Tennyson Fairbanks (sculptor).