Jonathan L. Fairbanks at the Decorative Arts Trust’s 40th Anniversary celebration at the Wadsworth Atheneum in 2017. Image courtesy of the Decorative Arts Trust.
WESTWOOD, MASS. — We regret to announce the passing of Jonathan Leo Fairbanks (1933-2026). In a career spanning six decades and stretching from Winterthur and Bayou Bend to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Fuller Craft Museum, Fairbanks left his passionate imprint on every discipline he embraced and inspired a generation of scholars of American decorative arts who followed him. Admired for his imagination, wit and talent as a raconteur, the acclaimed scholar, curator, artist and longtime president of the Decorative Arts Trust died August 1. A more complete tribute to Fairbanks will appear in a future issue of Antiques and The Arts Weekly.
