James Fairman worked as a landscape painter, critic, lecturer, musician, and teacher. He came to the United States in 1832, studied at the National Academy of Design in 1842, and exhibited drawings at the American Institute in 1846.

After serving as a colonel in the Civil War, he opened a studio in New York City. George Herbert McCord (1848-1909), who later become known for his watercolors, oils, and pastels, is said to have studied with James Fairman in 1866.
Fairman was one of the many artists who painted in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in the late 1800s. In 1871, he went to Europe where he spent the next nine years. In the 19th century, many Americans traveled abroad, and often visited, depicted, or wrote about the Ho...