Frederick Arthur Bridgman
Frederick Arthur Bridgman | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 13 January 1928 Rouen, France | (aged 80)
Nationality | American |
Education | Brooklyn Art Association; National Academy of Design; Jean-Léon Gérôme |
Movement | Orientalist |
Frederick Arthur Bridgman (November 10, 1847 – January 13, 1928) was an American artist known for his paintings of "Orientalist" subjects.
Life and career
Born in
Bridgman's first destination in France was
Because of the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, Bridgman was forced to leave Paris in the early 1870s. After spending time in Britanny and Spain, he made his first trips to North Africa between 1872 and 1874, dividing his time between Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt. On his trip to Egypt, he was accompanied by fellow artist Charles Sprague Pearce. Arriving in Cairo in December 1873, they worked in the city producing numerous sketches of the Islamic monuments, but also the street life, which was Bridgman's main inspiration. They travelled along the Nile, reaching Abu Simbel in the south of Egypt. During his trips, Bridgman executed approximately three hundred sketches, which became the source material for several later oil paintings that attracted immediate attention.[2] Bridgman became known as "the American Gérôme", although Bridgman would later adopt a more naturalistic aesthetic, emphasizing bright colors and painterly brushwork.
His large and important composition,
In 1881, Bridgman exhibited over 300 of his works in a personal exhibition in New York. His work was highly praised for the variety of subjects and the fine quality of execution. Following this success, Bridgman was elected a member of the National Academy of Design, after already being an associate member since 1874.[4]
In 1877, Bridgman married Florence Mott Baker from Boston in Paris. He returned to North Africa in the winter of 1885–86, settling in Algiers with his wife. In 1889, he published the book Winters in Algeria, with memories and numerous woodcut illustrations from his travels to North Africa.[5] His repeated visits to the region throughout the 1870s and 1880s allowed him to amass a collection of costumes, architectural pieces, and objets d'art, which often appear in his paintings. John Singer Sargent noted that Bridgman's overstuffed studio, along with the Eiffel Tower, were Paris's must-see attractions.
One of the greatest successes of his artistic career was his participation in the
In 1901, his wife died of a neurological illness. In 1904, he married Marthe Yaeger. After the
See also
References
- ^ a b Chisholm 1911.
- ^ a b c "Frederick Arthur Bridgman". mezzo-mondo.com. Archived from the original on 2017-11-19. Retrieved 2024-02-27.
- ^ a b "Biographie de Frederick Arthur Bridgman (1847-1928)". galeriearyjan.com (in French). Retrieved 2024-02-27.
- ^ "National Academicians | National Academy | National Academy Museum". Archived from the original on 2016-03-14. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
- ^ "Frederick Arthur Bridgman Biography". artnet.com. Retrieved 2024-02-27.
Sources
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bridgman, Frederick Arthur". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 559. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- Additional information gathered and paraphrased from non-copyrighted auction information published by Sotheby's Auction House.
External links
Decorative works, salon pictures, eastern subjects and drawings by Frederic A. Bridgman, a full-text auction catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries