Dr. Fairbanks became an accomplished artist before obtaining his M.D. degree.  He eventually combined medicine and art in the Art of Plastic Surgery.  Before becoming a plastic surgeon, he became a general surgeon.  Former Dean of the Medical School, William Price, M.D., once said, “Surgery is the finest of the fine arts.”  Dr. Fairbanks exemplified this in his work.  For 20 years, Dr. Fairbanks taught Art and Sculpture of the human figure to plastic surgeons at one of the major National Meetings – the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (The Aesthetic Society).  After a one-hour didactic lecture entitled Art, Anatomical Design, and Plastic Surgery, a nude model would take the stand and go through multiple positions (poses) for the drawing session in the morning.  In the afternoon, the participants would sculpt the female torso in plasteline (oil-based clay) from the nude model in a single pose.  

 

The human body is the ultimate subject of the artists.  The artist can do still-lifes, landscapes, seascapes, portraiture, and animal studies, but the human figure has a universal timeless interest which cannot be matched by other modalities.  This was demonstrated by such famous artists as Michaelangelo Buonarroti, Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, William Adolphe Bouguereau, Peter Paul Rubens, and many others.  

 

A thorough understanding of the human figure is essential to plastic surgery, and as plastic surgery is a fine art, developing one’s artistic abilities by drawing and sculpting the human figure is an important aspect of being a plastic surgeon.  As a teacher of Art of the Human Figure, one must be personally adept at this artform.  If you teach the violin, then you better well be able to play the violin.  Hence, Dr. Fairbanks would hire models for art sessions in his own private studio, and many of these sessions would result in beautiful oil paintings.  

 

Dr. Fairbanks would also occasionally teach the course in Facial Drawing and Sculpture.  His painted portraiture serves to exemplify this.  He has copied the works of many of the masters – Vermeer, Da Vinci, Botticelli, and others, as one learns and hones their skills by copying works of the masters.  A finished oil painting generally entails multiple layers of paint which gives it the depth and meaning to which the artist aspires.

 

These original works can be copied in color and printed on canvas secured to wooden frames, or stretchers.  These Giclees can be sold individually, signed by the artist.  Although some of the paintings are quite large, such as Botticelli’s Venus, these can be reduced in size to make the reproduction more manageable.  A gallery of available paintings is provided in this section of the website.