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Avard Fairbanks
American sculptor / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Avard Tennyson Fairbanks (March 2, 1897 – January 1, 1987) was a 20th-century American sculptor. Over his eighty-year career, he sculpted over 100 public monuments and hundreds of artworks.[1] Fairbanks is known for his religious-themed commissions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) including the Three Witnesses, Tragedy of Winter Quarters, and several Angel Moroni sculptures on spires of the church's temples.[2] Additionally, Fairbanks sculpted over a dozen Abraham Lincoln-themed sculptures and busts among which the most well-known reside in the U.S. Supreme Court Building and Ford's Theatre Museum.[3]
Avard Fairbanks | |
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![]() Fairbanks (ca. 1914) | |
Born | Avard Tennyson Fairbanks (1897-03-02)March 2, 1897 Provo, Utah, US |
Died | January 1, 1987(1987-01-01) (aged 89) Salt Lake City, Utah, US |
Resting place | Larkin Sunset Lawn Cemetery 40.741°N 111.823°W / 40.741; -111.823 (Larkin Sunset Lawn Cemetery) |
Alma mater | University of Michigan |
Occupation | Sculptor |
Spouse | Beatrice M. Fox |
Parent(s) | John B Fairbanks Lillie A. Huish |
From a young age, Fairbanks was a talented artist. At 13 years old, he attended the Art Students League of New York on scholarship and his work was displayed at the National Academy of Design a year later. In 1913, he studied abroad in Paris at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts where he was the youngest student admitted to the French salons. He taught sculpture at several universities and attended medical school at the University of Michigan where he earned a doctorate in anatomical studies in order to better represent the human body in his art.