Jonathan Fairbanks, Vice President of Research at Artfact, Receives Honors Jonathan Fairbanks is honored by The Decorative Arts Trust and Fuller Craft Museum.
(Newton, MA) – April 24, 2009 -- Jonathan Fairbanks, The Katherine Lane Weems Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture Emeritus, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Vice President of Research at Artfact, was recently honored at The Decorative Arts Trust Spring Symposium at The Winterthur Museum in Delaware. Jonathan was given The Decorative Arts Trust Award for Excellence for Distinctive Contributions in the Field of the Decorative. Bruce Coleman Perkins, who succeeded Jonathan as President of the Trust upon Jonathan’s retirement last year, presented the award at a Trust luncheon on April 4, 2009.
On May 17, 2009, Jonathan Fairbanks will be honored by the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, MA. He, along with furniture artist Sam Maloof, have been selected as ‘Luminaries 2009.’ ‘Luminaries’ have greatly influenced and shaped the cultural landscape of the New England region, in particular the craft field. There will be a benefit gala on May 17th to honor both Sam Maloof and Jonathan Fairbanks at Fuller Craft Museum.
Coinciding with these awards, Artfact is pleased to announce that it has created an archive of Jonathan’s weekly newsletter essays on Artfact.com. Featuring over one hundred of Jonathan’s essays, which are a highlight of Artfact’s weekly newsletter, the archive is free of charge to the Artfact community. The new print-friendly format, available at http://www.artfact.com/artfact/jonathan.cfm, allows Artfact’s readers to print these unique essays for their own archive.
As Vice President of Research, Jonathan serves as Artfact’s in house authority on the Fine and Decorative Arts. For each newsletter, he selects and reviews upcoming auction lots from Artfact’s 140+ premier auction house partners. Jonathan shares his thoughts about the newsletter, “Always there are surprises and treasures in the vast panorama of offerings on Artfact Live!. For me, the weekly newsletter is a learning experience that I love to share with readers. Sometimes the essay is written in direct response to inquiries from readers. At other times the essay reflects a recent or a remote experience. From time to time I offer advice on collection care, methods and materials used by artists and craftsmen, and historical references. It is my hope that these essays are both entertaining and useful to readers. The many responses are a pleasure for me to receive.”
Jonathan Leo Fairbanks (b. 1933) is an American artist and expert of American arts and antiques. Fairbanks created the American decorative arts and sculpture department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and served as the department’s Curator from 1970-1999.
Fairbanks earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Utah and his Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania through a joint program with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He earned a second Masters degree, an M.A. in American Culture, from the University of Delaware in the Winterthur Museum Fellowship Program. He served at the museum as an Associate Curator in charge of conservation for nine years.
Since his departure from the MFA, Fairbanks has served as a Guest Curator for several
