About Jonathan Fairbanks:
For me, the weekly newsletter is a learning experience that I love to share with readers. It is my hope that these essays are both entertaining and useful. Sometimes the essay is written in direct response to inquiries from readers. At other times the essay reflects a recent or a remote experience. From time to time I offer advice on collection care, methods and materials used by artists and craftsmen, and historical references. The many responses are a pleasure for me to receive.
Jonathan Fairbanks
The Katharine Lane Weems Curator of American
Decorative Arts and Sculpture Emeritus
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
I enjoy hearing from readers via email at jfairbanks@artfact.com.
Please select a date below:
2012
2011
2010
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New Beginnings
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A Trip to the Cobbler: Arts & Craft versus the Machine
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Nineteenth Century Pioneer Architecture
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Millenial Socialism
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Memorial Day
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The Brandywine School
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Thomas Shipley
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Dinosaurs & Natural History Murals
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Marble
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Leigh Keno Memories
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WWII Reminiscences & Sculpture
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Lexington and Concord
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Avard Fox Fairbanks (1919-2010)
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Jonathan's Flooded Archives
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Sculpture
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Asian Week, 2010
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Early Photography and Photgraphic Representation
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Birthday
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Massachussets Historical Society Revisited
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Black History Month and Presidents Day Auctions
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Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS), Boston
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American Art in Craft Media
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The Winter Antique Shows, New York, 2010
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Jonathan's Navy Memories
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Time Part II
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Time Part I
2009
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Highlights of New Year's Day sales
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Seasons Greetings
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Christmas - A Time for Memories and Contemplation
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Electricity and the Studio
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Stained Glass
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America's First Thanksgiving
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The Walpole Society
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Veterans Day
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Benevolant Insects
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Malicious Insects
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Printmaking II
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Printmaking I
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Fakes, Forgeries, Copies and Replicas
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Animal Collections
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Collecting
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Nature
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Plein Air Painting
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Revision
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Museums and Memory
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Fairbanks Reunion
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Plein Air Painting in Utah
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Jonathan's Gone Painting
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Summer Activities
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Spheres and Symmetry
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Memory, Progress and Nostalgia
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Careers in the Arts
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Linear Perspective
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Illusion & Mimicry
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Sam Maloof's Funeral
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Old Sturbridge Village
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Books
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New Orleans, Sam Maloof and Fossils
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Luminaries of American Craft
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Purchasing Items at Auction
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The Year 1891
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Collecting Advice, Textiles and Pottery
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Traditional Crafts
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Reproductions
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Winterthur
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Sam Maloof
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Trip to the Yucatan
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Developing an Artist's Eye
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Footprints and Fossils
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Connoisseurship
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American Decorative Arts at the MFA
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Printmaking
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Lincoln and Darwin
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Slogans
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Patterns
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Auctions
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Invaluable Live
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First Snow
2008
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List of Auction House Partners
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Focus and Reflection
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The Importance of Books
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Revisiting Nana's House
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Thanksgiving
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Housekeeping
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Nostalgia, Memories and Dreams
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Making Smart and Prudent Acquisitions
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Prints and Lenses
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Ghosts
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The Gothic Novel
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Microcrystalline Wax
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Perils to Art
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The Decorative Arts Trust Outing in New Mexico
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Provenance of a Fork and Spoon
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Johnathan's Big Brother
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The Tomato
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Historic Upholstry
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Fakes, Copies and Replicas
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Conservation
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Fairbanks Reunion
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Deacon Shem Drowne
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A Visit to Copp's Hill Burial Ground
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Historic Graveyards
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Woodworking
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Papermaking and Plymoth Rock
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Printmaking
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Original Art
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Tradescant the Elder
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Learning to Read with Mrs. Stevens
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The Belle Époque
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The Organic Cycle
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The National American Glass Club
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Building the MFA Collection
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Mary Caroline Richards: Potter and Poet
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Happy the Iguana
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Shadow and Drift
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Pollen Analysis
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Creativity and Visual Literacy
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Spring Rains
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Silver of the Americas
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The Caudle-Cup
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Winterthur
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19th Century Literature and Architecture
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The Geometry of Nature
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Jonathan's Marriage
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Bonnin and Morris
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Universal Design
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The USS Constitution and Silversmithing at the Met
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Winter Doodle
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Antiques Weekend in New York
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Four Upcoming Exhibits
2007
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Childhood Memories
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Sight
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Modest Auction Purchases
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Craftsmanship
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Generational Contributions
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Material Culture
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Archeology of Jamestown
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Trip to Southwest: October, 1999
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Predicting Auction Prices
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Spiritualism and the Cultural Indian Summer
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The Arts and Crafts movement
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Objects and Memories
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Ima Hogg
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Storytelling
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Motion and Movement
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Cameras Lucida and Obscura
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Charles Willson Peale and Perspective
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Perspective
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Balance and Symmetry
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The Art and Craft of Papermaking
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Accurately Interpreting the Past
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Painting
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Collectors and Collecting
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Maritime Thoughts
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Gardening
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The Old Clock on the Stairs
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The American Revolution
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Peonies and the Sofa
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Craft: A visit to Sam Maloof's
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Sam Maloof and Gardening
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Stars and Darkness
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American Design Books
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Jamestown
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Cutting Down a Tree
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Sculpture
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Spiritual Patterns of Nature
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Equestrian Sculpture
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Collecting from Nature
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Determining an Item's Origin
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Ima Hogg
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Varnish
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Paint
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X-Ray Investigation
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Forgery
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Orange and Purple
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Green
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Blue
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Red
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Color
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Material Culture
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The Stars and the Liberty Bowl
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