A STREET SCENE IN ALGERIA

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A STREET SCENE IN ALGERIA: Frederick Arthur Bridgman

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Art Type: Oil Painting
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Frederick Arthur Bridgman Oil Painting - A STREET SCENE IN ALGERIA

Keywords: STREET, SCENE, ALGERIA

Work Overview: A STREET SCENE IN ALGERIA
Frederick Arthur Bridgman
oil on canvas
20 by 28 3/4 in
50.8 by 73 cm
LOT SOLD. 433,000 USD

One of Bridgman's most recognized Orientalist images, A Street Scene in Algeria, is exceptional for its biographical and historical significance. Many of its details can be considered "signature" motifs of the artist, and its subject, a pointed record of travel. In keeping with Bridgman's tendency in the 1880s to focus on intimate domestic subjects, two seated male figures are given pride of place in the center of the composition, gesticulating while they chat.

From the most unlikely of beginnings -- he was born in Tuskagee, Alabama, the son of an itinerant physician - Frederick Arthur Bridgman would become a dedicated art student, an inveterate traveler, and America's preeminent Orientalist painter. In 1867, Bridgman entered the studio of the noted academic painter Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904), where he was deeply influenced by Gérôme's precise draftsmanship, smooth finishes, and concern for Middle Eastern themes. (Bridgman would even become known as "the American Gérôme.") No mere imitator, however, Bridgman would later adopt a more naturalistic aesthetic, emphasizing bright colors and painterly brushwork.
Bridgman made his first trip to North Africa between 1872 and 1874, dividing his time between Algeria and Egypt. There he executed approximately three hundred sketches, which became the source material for several later oil paintings. Additional 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. (Amusingly, John Singer Sargent noted that Bridgman's overstuffed studio, along with the Eiffel Tower, were Paris's must-see attractions.) Though Bridgman maintained a lifelong connection to France, his popularity in America never waned. Indeed, in 1890, the artist had a one- man show of over 400 pictures in New York's 5th Avenue Galleries. When the show moved to Chicago's Art Institute, it contained only 300 works - testimony to the high number of sales Bridgman had made.
One of Bridgman's most recognized Orientalist images, A Street Scene in Algeria is exceptional for its biographical and historical significance. Many of its details can be considered "signature" motifs of the artist, and its subject, a pointed record of travel. In keeping with Bridgman's tendency in the 1880s to focus on intimate domestic subjects, two seated male figures are given pride of place in the center of the composition, gesticulating while they chat. They are kept company by a third figure, who, taking advantage of the shade created by the recessed doorway, leans against one side. (This arched portal, flanked by ornately carved columns, was typical of North African architecture.) His white robes are set off by the green paint of the door behind him - a color combination that is often seen in North African architecture, and therefore in Bridgman's works. To the right of these men, and forming a striking visual bookend of sorts, is a black Arabian horse. It is the same patient horse, burdened by the same high-pommelled saddle, which appears in so many of Bridgman's compositions.

On the left hand side of the picture, a young veiled woman glances away from her partner. (This kind of heavy veiling, in which the eyes are the only visible facial feature, was practiced only when a woman appeared in public.) Though her gaze does not meet ours, the coy gesture effectively collapses the distance between viewer and subject. This too was an oft-seen compositional device of Bridgman's, employed most often in scenes featuring fetching young harem women. The woman's white robes (the traditional color worn in this region) partially cover a sturdy reed basket, the base of which bears Bridgman's own name. These baskets were commonly used in the Middle East for carrying chickens, rabbits, and other goods to market. As if in recognition of this cultural point of fact, in the distant background, Bridgman has added colorful strokes of paint to suggest an abundant market stall.

The deep, cobbled steps leading to the market stall are rendered in one-point perspective, a clever combination on the artist's part of precise European perspectival systems and the irregular picturesqueness of the Middle East. This oblique viewpoint, in which the smooth, white, sun-dappled walls of local buildings form a visual barrier of sorts, and further action trails off to the sides, was one that Bridgman often took. At the foot of the steps stands a little boy. He wears a red cap and his head is partially shaved - a typical hairstyle for adolescent children, with origins dating back to Ancient Egypt. This little boy reappears in many of Bridgman's works, though his outfit and attributes may change. (Here he carries a beautifully carved and inlaid oud, or lute.) His red slippers clash slightly with his billowing purple pants and loosely-fitted jacket, but also - and deliberately - lead the eye toward other such colors in the composition. The jellaba (hooded robe) of the white-bearded man at the door, for example, and the shutters down the street, flung wide open, now create a compelling visual pattern, and contribute to the cohesive effect of a composition that might otherwise become fragmented.

While it is tempting to get lost in the details of this work, there are broader messages at hand. Algeria had been occupied by the French since 1830, and was being rapidly transformed. Algerian children had even begun to dress in European style, like their mothers and fathers. Though this was true primarily in the cities, the fact adds poignancy to Bridgman's rural scene. The little boy, dressed in traditional Algerian clothes, clutches his oud with both hands, as if in defiance of social change.

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Frederick Arthur Bridgman

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