J.  Leo Fairbanks was born in Payson, Utah in 1878.  The son of early Utah artist, John B. Fairbanks, and the older brother of noted sculptor, Avard Fairbanks, J. Leo was an artist and educator.  He died in Corvallis, Oregon in 1946.

Fairbanks first studied under his father and then went to Paris for further study (1903–5) first at the Académie Julian where he won first prize in painting and a second prize in sculpture; he later studied at the Académie Colarossi and the Grande Chaumière.  While in Paris, one of his instructors was Jean-Paul Laurens.  When he returned to Salt Lake City, he became director of art and architecture for the Salt Lake City School District. In 1923 he was recruited to be chair of the department of art and architecture at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon.

Although Fairbanks’s major focus was art education, he was also a painter and sculptor.  In 1916, he completed a sculptural frieze for the temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Hawaii.  His painting Dry Lands Harvest, Eastern Oregon appeared on the cover of Literary Digest.  His plaster sculpture Buffalo was completed in 1930.  His painting Quaking Aspens, Big Cottonwood (Quaking Ash) was completed in 1912.

Biographical information on this page was adapted from Artists of Utah.