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Lot Essay
Frederick Arthur Bridgman's Learning the Qu'ran is one of the artist's last works, created during the final decade of the artist's life when he had finally settled in Normandy after a long and fruitful career. Bridgman's many travels throughout North Africa, including Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt, allowed for a privileged view into the lives of the many people he encountered there. His ability to render scenes of everyday life with a delicate, color-infused brush solidified his fame as one of the foremost Orientalist artists.
Though raised in Massachusetts by his mother and uncle, Bridgman was born in Tuskegee, Alabama in November 1847. After his father passed away, Bridgman's mother moved the family to the Northeast, eventually settling in Brooklyn. His early aptitude for draughtsmanship revealed itself in 1863, when the artist began an apprenticeship with the American Bank Note Company. He simultaneously enrolled in evening art classes at the Brooklyn Art Association. He often painted in the early morning hours, rising at 4 a.m. in order to leave enough time for his daily commute to Wall Street.
Bridgman's work still maintains a linear quality that reveals his first formal training as an engraver at the American Bank Note Company. His skill as a draughtsman, however, undoubtedly results from his studies at the prestigious and world-renowned Ecole des Beaux-Arts, in Paris, where he began studying in February, 1867. It was there that he found fortuitous placement in the atelier of the acclaimed Orientalist artist Jean-Léon Gérôme, one of only five American students admitted at that time.
Under Gérôme's tutelage, Bridgman developed a reputation as one of the most important Orientalist artists of the era, an artist whose work maintained a greater sense of authenticity than many of his contemporaries because he traveled so extensively. In the autumn of 1872 and the spring of 1873, Bridgman traveled widely, from the Pyrenees to the Sahara, including Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt. While in Spain, he met the acquaintance of the Spanish painter Mario Fortuny, whose diaphanous paintings aided in the lightening of Bridgman's palette.
Learning the Qu'ran depicts a group of young students engaged in study in a courtyard. Sun-dappled and awash in shimmering color, the painting reveals a thoughtful, introspective scene typical of Bridgman's later works.
Though raised in Massachusetts by his mother and uncle, Bridgman was born in Tuskegee, Alabama in November 1847. After his father passed away, Bridgman's mother moved the family to the Northeast, eventually settling in Brooklyn. His early aptitude for draughtsmanship revealed itself in 1863, when the artist began an apprenticeship with the American Bank Note Company. He simultaneously enrolled in evening art classes at the Brooklyn Art Association. He often painted in the early morning hours, rising at 4 a.m. in order to leave enough time for his daily commute to Wall Street.
Bridgman's work still maintains a linear quality that reveals his first formal training as an engraver at the American Bank Note Company. His skill as a draughtsman, however, undoubtedly results from his studies at the prestigious and world-renowned Ecole des Beaux-Arts, in Paris, where he began studying in February, 1867. It was there that he found fortuitous placement in the atelier of the acclaimed Orientalist artist Jean-Léon Gérôme, one of only five American students admitted at that time.
Under Gérôme's tutelage, Bridgman developed a reputation as one of the most important Orientalist artists of the era, an artist whose work maintained a greater sense of authenticity than many of his contemporaries because he traveled so extensively. In the autumn of 1872 and the spring of 1873, Bridgman traveled widely, from the Pyrenees to the Sahara, including Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt. While in Spain, he met the acquaintance of the Spanish painter Mario Fortuny, whose diaphanous paintings aided in the lightening of Bridgman's palette.
Learning the Qu'ran depicts a group of young students engaged in study in a courtyard. Sun-dappled and awash in shimmering color, the painting reveals a thoughtful, introspective scene typical of Bridgman's later works.