Theologically, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a family-centered faith. Art historians can make similar dynastic connections about its members. Just as generations of the Smith family seeded early Church leadership, the Durham family created hymns and music, and the Fairbanks family visual art. A new exhibition at the Springville Museum of Art brings together for the first time 70 original works by John B. Fairbanks and his sons J. Leo Fairbanks and Avard T. Fairbanks, all of whom built national and international reputations as painters and sculptors. 

Titled The Fairbanks Family: An American Art Dynasty, the exhibit starts with John, who was one of the LDS missionaries set apart to study painting in Paris at the end of the 19th century, and continues with the considerable contributions of J. Leo and Avard T. It is the perfect venue for the show, being Utah’s first museum, which was founded with donations of works by John B. Fairbanks’ Paris colleague, painter John Hafen and the sculptor of the Salt Lake Temple’s statue of Moroni, Cyrus E. Dallin. (The exhibition runs through December 2, 2023.)