Like his father J.B. Fairbanks, J. Leo Fairbanks was born in Payson, Utah. He studied art first with his father, then in Paris. His return to Utah brought him jobs as Art Supervisor for the Salt Lake Public Schools (1904-23) and art instructor at L.D.S. University (1901-10). He also taught at the University of Chicago and Columbia University. In the 1920s he became art department chairman at Oregon State College in Corvallis, and remained active on that faculty until his death.

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