Winters in Algeria by Frederick Arthur Bridgman

Winters in Algeria by Frederick Arthur Bridgman

Frederick Arthur Bridgman

1847-1928

Frederick Arthur Bridgman was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. His career began as a draughtsman in New York City, working for the American Bank Note Company from 1864 to 1865. He honed his art skills at the Brooklyn Art Association and the National Academy of Design before entering the studio of the renowned academic painter Jean-Léon Gérôme, whose precise draftsmanship, smooth finishes, and fascination with Middle-Eastern themes deeply influenced him. Bridgman’s subsequent travels to North Africa—spanning Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt—provided abundant source material. He executed around three hundred sketches, which later became the foundation for several oil paintings that garnered immediate attention. Bridgman’s work earned him the moniker “the American Gérôme”. Although he initially followed Gérôme’s style, Bridgman eventually embraced a more naturalistic aesthetic, emphasizing bright colors and painterly brushwork. His masterpiece, “The Funeral Rites of a Mummy on the Nile," exhibited at the Paris Salon and the Royal Academy of Arts, brought him the prestigious Cross of the Legion of Honor. This remarkable painting was later acquired by collector Wendell Cherry and donated to the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1890, Bridgman held a one-man show in New York, featuring over 400 pictures, and continued to make significant sales. Bridgman passed away in 1928.

Alabama Authors of the 19th & 20th Centuries, edited by Beverley Park Rilett, http://alabamaauthors.org

1890

Winters in Algeria. New York; Harper & Brother, 1890.

AL Book Collection

Bridgman, Frederick Arthur, “Winters in Algeria by Frederick Arthur Bridgman,” Alabama Authors of the 19th & 20th Centuries, accessed November 8, 2026, https://alabamaauthors.org/items/show/24753.