Frederick Arthur Bridgman

Sale: Replica Shoes 's, New York, 23 October 1990, lot 53 (as The Return)
Guarisco Gallery Ltd., Washington, 2 July 1992
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Gerald M. Ackermann, American Orientalists, Paris, 1994, p. 25, catalogued & illustrated (as The Return)

Following his first trip to Algeria in 1872 and Cairo the following year, Alabama-born Bridgman turned almost exclusively to painting scenes of Algerian and Egyptian life. Wintering with his family in the Hôtel de l'Orient in the Mustapha Supérieur quarter of Algiers, he used the services of a local guide, Belkassem, to show him around and make introductions to local residents. Bridgman's experiences in Algeria and his prolific creative output led to the publication of a book, Winters in Algiers, illustrated with woodcuts modelled along the artist's drawings and paintings. In the present work, he has taken to a high road overlooking a port city, no doubt Algiers. His luminous, impressionistic technique contrasts with his earlier, more academic style honed under his teacher in Paris, Jean-Léon Gérôme and found in his earlier work (see lot 31).