Remembering Jonathan L. Fairbanks

We were saddened to learn of the loss of Jonathan L. Fairbanks, the President of the Decorative Arts Trust’s Board of Governors from 1989 through 2008.

Fairbanks was a Renaissance man who grew up in a family of artists. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Utah, he served in the U.S. Navy on a destroyer. He went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania through a joint program with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where he honed his skills as a painter. He then earned a Master of Arts in the University of Delaware’s Winterthur Program in Early American Culture.

Devoted to public service in the arts, Fairbanks served as the Associate Curator in Charge of Conservation at the Winterthur Museum; the Katharine Lane Weems Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Director at Fuller Craft Museum. He was active in the preservation of his family’s home, the 1637 Fairbanks House in Dedham, MA, and he shared his knowledge by contributing to numerous influential publications and speaking at countless events.

Immediate past Board President Brock W. Jobe acknowledged that “Jonathan had an impact on so many organizations. His fingerprints on our field are everywhere. And he seemed to know everyone and to have an interest in everything. He was unique, and he left a remarkable legacy.”

Fairbanks kept his artist talents sharp, and his paintings have been shown at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Fuller Craft Museum; the National Portrait Gallery; the Springville Museum; the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts; Saint Botolph Club; Haley and Steele Gallery; the Boston Public Library; and the Alhambra in Spain.

When Fairbanks retired as the Trust’s Board President, Executive Director Penny Hunt wrote, “Jonathan had a word (or a series of words, or a verse, or even a song) for every occasion. His introductions of speakers will remain memorable. They were always gracious and frequently familial, when the speaker was a friend. And they always left us anticipating the lecture that would follow. Any member attending a symposium soon realized that Jonathan is by turns an artist, a linguist, a curator, a collector, and one of the best possible story tellers.”

During the Trust’s 40th Anniversary celebration in 2017, Hunt shared that “Jonathan was a champion of American objects from all periods, from 17th-century furniture to the silver of Paul Revere to the works of contemporary Native American potters. During his tenure, he generously shared all this and more with great scholarship and contagious enthusiasm.”

Current Executive Director Matthew A. Thurlow points out that “There would not be a Trust today without Jonathan Fairbanks. He and Penny were the organization’s dynamic duo, deftly steering the organization through countless achievements and milestones over that nearly 20-year stretch.”

Fairbanks presented many lectures and led numerous tours during Trust programs across the country. To honor his service to the Trust and the decorative arts community at large, a prominent collector and museum benefactor spearheaded the creation of a lecture endowed in Jonathan’s name in 2002. This lectureship continues to enable the Trust to share important scholarship at each symposium. The Trust will have a meaningful opportunity to acknowledge Jonathan’s incredible contributions to the field during the Fall 2026 Symposium in Boston.

More details about Fairbanks can be found in his obituary and in Antiques and The Arts Weekly.