Frédérick Arthur BRIDGMAN (1847- 1928) - Lot 33

Frédérick Arthur BRIDGMAN (1847- 1928) Market in the fondouk of Laghouat Oil on canvas. Signed lower right. 102 x 135 cm Provenance : Sale Hotel Drouot, Etude Gridel et Boscher (Room 10 on June 27, 1979). Acquired at this sale by the current owner. Along with Weeks, Bridgman is the most important painter of the American Orientalist school. Born into a Boston family, he studied painting at the American colony of Pont-Aven and in the studio of Gérôme, of whom he was a favorite pupil. During his Mediterranean travels, Bridgman had difficulty renting a studio room from a young widow in the Kasbah of Algiers. From his terrace, he painted courtyards and fountains, alleyways and squares, an irreplaceable record of Algiers at the turn of the 20th century. Bridgman also visited and painted the oases of the South, a long way from Algiers. Our painting of an oasis resting in front of the watering hole bears witness to this: with their families, their animals (dromedaries and domestic gazelles) and their goods, the painting bears witness to the itinerant life of caravaneers on the desert marches.