Jonathan Fairbanks,
president of the Decorative Arts Trust, introduces the first
Fairbanks lecturer Jessie Poesch, professor of art history
emeritus at Tulane University.
NEW ORLEANS, LA. - At the spring symposium of The Decorative Arts
Trust, April 10-13, the Jonathan L. Fairbanks Lectureship was
announced. Through the anonymous fund of the Philadelphia
Foundation, $75,000 was given to endow a perpetual lectureship to
honor Fairbanks, the president of the trust and one of the
leading experts of American decorative arts. The Fairbanks
lectureship will allow special honorariums for keynote speakers
at the biennial trust symposia.
The donor stated that the lectureship is to honor Fairbanks as a
man of encyclopedic knowledge in the American decorative arts
field, as one who generously shares this knowledge and whose
enthusiasm for the field enlightens and enriches audiences,
colleagues and friends across the country.
Fairbanks commented: "It thrills me that exceptional decorative
arts scholars will be funded twice yearly to deliver
distinguished lectures at meetings of the Decorative Arts Trust.
This new lectureship became possible through a generous gift by
one who cares deeply about the importance and meaning of the arts
of design in American life. Although unnamed, the donor is one
who has long been a highly original and effective supporter of
the fine and decorative arts of this nation. That my name is
cited for this lectureship is indeed a very great honor.
Collectively, all trust members will surely enjoy the benefits of
this new initiative forevermore."
Fairbanks is currently guest curator for the exhibit, "Becoming a
Nation, Americana from the Diplomatic Reception Rooms, US
Department of State," which opened at the Portland Art Museum in
April. It will travel to Athens, Ga.; Fresno, Calif.; Palm Beach,
Fla.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Huntsville, Ala.; Sioux City, Iowa; and
Portland, Maine, closing January 2, 2005. The catalog for this
exhibit is published by Rizzoli, New York.
After graduating from the Winterthur museum program with his
second masters degree and holding curatorial positions at
Winterthur for nine years, Fairbanks became the Katharine Lane
Weems curator of American decorative arts and sculpture at the
MFA, Boston, from 1970 to 1999. His exhibits and publications are
numerous, including the classic text often used in universities,
American Furniture, 1620 to the Present, written with
Elizabeth Bid- well Bates.
Fairbanks' honors and awards reflecting his varied interests and
expertise are numerous as well. They include the Victorian
Society of America Award for Conservation, The Charles F.
Montgomery Award from the Decorative Arts Society, The Urban
Glass Award for Exceptional Museum Glass Exhibition, The Ellen
Banning Ayer Award for Contributions to Arts and Culture, and the
Lifetime Achievement Medal from the Society of Arts and Crafts,
Boston.
His unflagging support of the arts is shown in his great number
of professional affiliations such as Fellow of the American
Institute for Conservation, Fellow of The Pilgrim Society,
Organizer of the North American Prints Conferences, The Walpole
Society, Board member of the Haystack School of Crafts, Fellow of
the American Crafts Council and Board member of the Paul Revere
House.
The first recipient of the Fairbanks lectureship was Jessie
Poesch, professor of the history of art emeritus at the Newcomb
department of art of Tulane University. Poesch is author of
Early Furniture of Louisiana, The Art of the Old South:
Painting, Architecture and the Products of Craftsmen,
1560-1860, and Newcomb Pottery: An Enterprise for Southern
Women, 1895-1940. Her lecture, "The Crescent City: Art and
Architecture in New Orleans to 1860," was given at the trust
spring symposium in New Orleans. She is currently the guest
curator for the section, "New Orleans: Site of the Transfer,
Prize of the Purchase," in the New Orleans Museum of Art's
exhibit, "Jefferson's America and Napoleon's France."
The Decorative Arts Trust is a nonprofit, educational
organization created in 1977 for the study and preservation of
the decorative arts. For information, 215-627-2859 or
www.decorativeartstrust.org.
