Frederick Arthur Bridgman

Private collection, USA
Purchased from the above by the present owner circa 1999

The canvas has been relined, apparently retaining the original stretcher. There are some lines of paint shrinkage likely associated with bitumen in the artist's pigments notably in the dress of the seated woman, the hat of the child, and the black pigments to the right of the doorway; there are some other scattered faint thin lines of craquelure consistent with age. Ultra-violet light reveals a number of scattered repairs which have been skilfully done and are not particularly visible to the naked eye, notably in a 'H' shape in and below the woman's gown, in the wall just above her head and just in her hair, in the plant pots, and some other scattered small lines. The appearance of the painting to the naked eye is overall good. Presented in a simple gold-painted frame.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The Sewing Lesson, like the previous lot, Idle Moments, is an early painting by Bridgman painted in the rigorous and precise style that sets it apart from his later, more loosely painted works. Bridgman arrived in Paris from America in 1866, entering the studio of Jean-Léon Gérôme (lot 6) at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts where he honed his skills and under whose tutelage he developed the pictorial idiom exemplified in paintings like the present work. After a trip to Algeria and Egypt in 1872, Bridgman turned his attention to North African subjects. The Sewing Lesson was painted soon after that first journey, the vivid colours and fabrics, and the scene itself, a reflection of Bridgman's fascination with, and empathy towards, the culture he experienced there.

Bridgman spent ever more time in Algiers, even putting up his wife and family in the Hôtel de l'Orient in the Mustapha Supérieur quarter, and hiring a guide, Belkassem, to find him an entrée into private houses in which, and from which, to watch and paint daily life. From Algiers he wrote home: 'Here we have all the advantages of civilisation with quite enough in the picture line for anybody.' True to his academic training, Bridgman's finished paintings were worked up from sketches made on the spot, and the present work would have been no exception. A New York show of over three hundred of his works at the American Art Gallery in 1881 included finished canvases, but the major part of the exhibition consisted of sketches, praised for their 'frankness, their fidelity, their freshness, their beauty.'

Bridgman's cumulative experiences in Algeria and his prolific output led him in 1888 to publish a long and well-illustrated account of his stay in Algiers in Harper's Monthly Magazine; the success of the several articles led to the contract for a book, Winters in Algiers, illustrated with woodcuts after the artist's drawings and paintings.