拍品專文
Born in Tuskegee, Alabama, Bridgman rose rapidly in academic circles--firstly at the Brooklyn Art School and the National Academy of Design in New York, followed by the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, where he became one of Gérôme's most successful students. According to M. G. Van Rensselaer, Bridgman was considered, "Well trained, well informed, scholarly and accomplished" (M. G. Van Rensselaer, American Art and American Art Collections, Boston, 1889, p. 179). Bridgman earned respect for the sincerity of his depictions, especially for his pictures of the daily life and inhabitants of North Africa. Remarkably for a foreigner, he was the recipient of medals in the Salons of 1877 and 1878. While in America, he was honored with a one man show in New York in 1881.
According to Dr. Ilene Fort, Les Voisines, Terrasses d'Alger is "one of several large paintings created in the 1880s in which Bridgman explored the effects of sunlight on light and white surfaces. The painting appears to be quite lovely." During the 1880s Bridgman made many trips to Algiers, which he referred to as the "City of Whites." In our painting, the "neighbors" languidly pose in the Mediterranean heat, caught in a moment of respite from their daily chores. Both the setting and the model at left are identical in Bridgman's painting L'Indolence from this period, while the floral accents and diaphanous draperies of the women create the same impression found in Bridgman's 1889 entry to the Exposition Universelle, The Day of the Prophet at Oued-el-kebir (Christie's, London, November 17, 1994, lot 13). Les Voisines, Terrasses d'Alger was painted in 1887, at the height of Bridgman's career. The artist works with myriad gradations of white. Perhaps inspired by James Whistler's Dame Blanche (The National Gallery of Art) which had been exhibited in 1863 at the Salon des Refusés and John Singer Sargent's Fumée d'Ambre Gris of 1880 (The Clark Art Institute) wherein the wonderful lights and shadows of North African stucco architecture are augmented by colorful indigenous tiles, Bridgman has added a conspicuous floral element as a compositional device to unite the color scheme and principal figures, presage the great age of French Art Nouveau. .
This painting has been authenticated by Dr. Ilene Fort in a letter dated April 24, 1995.
According to Dr. Ilene Fort, Les Voisines, Terrasses d'Alger is "one of several large paintings created in the 1880s in which Bridgman explored the effects of sunlight on light and white surfaces. The painting appears to be quite lovely." During the 1880s Bridgman made many trips to Algiers, which he referred to as the "City of Whites." In our painting, the "neighbors" languidly pose in the Mediterranean heat, caught in a moment of respite from their daily chores. Both the setting and the model at left are identical in Bridgman's painting L'Indolence from this period, while the floral accents and diaphanous draperies of the women create the same impression found in Bridgman's 1889 entry to the Exposition Universelle, The Day of the Prophet at Oued-el-kebir (Christie's, London, November 17, 1994, lot 13). Les Voisines, Terrasses d'Alger was painted in 1887, at the height of Bridgman's career. The artist works with myriad gradations of white. Perhaps inspired by James Whistler's Dame Blanche (The National Gallery of Art) which had been exhibited in 1863 at the Salon des Refusés and John Singer Sargent's Fumée d'Ambre Gris of 1880 (The Clark Art Institute) wherein the wonderful lights and shadows of North African stucco architecture are augmented by colorful indigenous tiles, Bridgman has added a conspicuous floral element as a compositional device to unite the color scheme and principal figures, presage the great age of French Art Nouveau. .
This painting has been authenticated by Dr. Ilene Fort in a letter dated April 24, 1995.