John B Fairbanks was born in Payson, Utah, on December 27, 1855. His parents, John Boylston Fairbanks and Sarah Van Wagoner Fairbanks, crossed the plains with a Mormon wagon train in September of 1847. As a young boy, John's interest in art was apparent. His mother owned two pictures she prized a great deal. One was a steel engraving of Rosa Bonheur's Horse Fair and the other was a print of an old family home in Massachusetts. John's mother had the pictures stored safely in a trunk to preserve them. John was so interested in the pictures that he took every opportunity to examine them. He handled them so often they began to show signs of wear. His mother finally decided to hang the pictures in their home so John could view them as much as he wanted without touching them. John Fairbanks was given the initial of B at the age of 20 in honor of his father who passed away at that time. John married Lillie Annetta Huish on June 24, 1877. John was married to Lillie Annetta Huish in the home of their bishop in Payson, Utah. In the next two years, John and Lillie had two children. Lillie passed away in 1898.

One of the most important events in Utah art history occurred in 1890, when John Hafen and Lorus Pratt visited George Q. Cannon of the First Presidency of the LDS church to request funding to study art in France. The artists had been called to paint murals in the soon-to-be-completed Salt Lake Temple and wished to receive better training before beginning. The funding was granted and three artists were chosen to travel to France: John Hafen, Lorus Pratt, and John B Fairbanks. The three were given $1,800 and were set apart by the church as "missionaries with a special purpose."

After the murals in the Salt Lake temple were completed, John traveled to Arizona to assist with the murals in the Mesa temple. After the painting in the temples was completed, John struggled for a time as an artist. He was a Tonal Impressionist who, more than any other Utah Paris-trained artist, felt the necessity of painting "The Farm." In spite of the relevance of his work to early Utah life, his exhibited paintings often were ignored or only faintly praised.

John was the official photographer of the Benjamin Cluff Expedition to Mexico from 1901 to 1903.

In 1917, John met Florence Gifford when he traveled to Zion National Park to make sketches. They were married in Salt Lake City on September 21, 1917. John continued to paint until his death on June 15, 1940 at the age of 84. He left behind his wife Florence and a total of 13 children.