page_title: John Fairbanks
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: John Fairbanks / Biography / Early life
caption_attribution_description: Utah Farm
context_page_description: John Boylston Fairbanks 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, 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 sculptor Avard Fairbanks.
context_section_description: John Boylston Fairbanks was born on December 27, 1855, in Payson, Utah. He was the first Mormon artist born in Utah territory. His parents were John Boylston Fairbanks and Sarah Van Wagoner. His father, also named John Boylston Fairbanks (1817-1875), was an early pioneer who had come to Utah from the Winter Quarters in 1847. His father died from pneumonia on May 14, 1875, leaving Fairbanks to care for the family. Although he showed an early interest in art, he had no inclination to pursue it as a career until, in 1877, he visited the studios of John Hafen, an aspiring artist his own age. Fairbanks would sit in Hafen's studio and watch him paint in between working in the field and playing baseball. He would hide his paintings and other works, because he did not want to disappoint his family. When he eventually showed a finished painting to his mother, she initially did not believe he painted it, but was proud of Fairbanks when his sisters confirmed that he had painted it. Hafen became his lifelong friend and mentor. Fairbanks would paint in the evenings and Saturdays.
caption: Utah Farm (1893)
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