Avard Tennyson Fairbanks was the youngest child of John B. and Lilly Huish Fairbanks. He showed a very early aptitude for sculpture. In 1914, the youthful Fairbanks became the youngest artist ever to exhibit at the annual French Salon. He subsequently worked and studied at the University of Oregon (1920-25), the Yale School of Fine Arts (1927-28), the University of Washington (1929) and the University of Michigan, where he earned his doctorate in anatomy. He remained at Michigan on the art faculty until he returned to Utah in 1954 to a College of Fine Arts for the University of Utah. During the course of his career, Fairbanks created over one hundred public monuments dedicated to American leaders and historical events, four of which are located in the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

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