(Tuskegee 1847–1927 Rouen)
An Afternoon in Algiers, signed F. A. Bridgman, oil on canvas, 77 x 95 cm, framed,

Provenance:
Private collection, Monte Carlo, Monaco, 1920s;
thence by descent - Private collection, Italy.

We are grateful to Dr Ilene Susan Fort for confirming the authenticity on the basis of high resolution images and for the catalogue entry.

Odalesque figures are iconic in academic European painting of the Near East and North Africa during nineteenth century, painted by artists of different nationalities, including Americans. F rederick A. Bridgman painted beautiful reclining Arab women in Algerian interiors throughout his mature years, but mainly during the late 1880s and 1890s. Although Bridgman preferred the more anglicized, domestic interpretations with the inclusion of children and other family members, he increasingly sexualized his erotically posed women through the use of diaphanous garments and a single outstretched arm that fully exposed their bosoms to the male gaze. However, he often accompanied these reclining women with other figures—children and musicians, scattered across the composition to obstruct the direct gaze of the male viewer, as here with the child, gazelle, loom, and small table with a still life scattered in front of the woman on the divan. All the adult figures are women and at first seem to refer to the female-dominated harems of the Near East, but such a staging may also suggest the artist’s childhood experience; Bridgman’s father died when he was young and his mother supported the family for years, by teaching music. Indeed ,Bridgman played the violin and loved music all his life and stringed instruments often appear in his Eastern scenes, as here in Afternoon, Algiers.
This painting is a variant of another, slightly smaller canvas, known as A Hot Day in Mustapaha (aka Afternoon, Algiers). Bridgman often made variants of his more successful canvases. Usually in these variants the setting is the same, but the details differ. The artist distingished his two interpretations by changing the chandeliers, carpet, and floor tiles, but both have the same reclining figure, dark-skinned musician seated on the floor, and the inclusion of a little boy, small table in the foreground, and feathered fans hung on the wall. A Hot Day in Mustapha has the addition of two other figures, a young Arab woman working at the embroidery loom and a second, seated black woman, squeezed between the divan and the musician. Both also have a large window with a distant view of a coastal city, probably Algiers, but differ in the land formation of the coast and the type of large tree directly outside the window.
Which canvas came first is problematic. Neither are studies for the other, nor are their sizes that dramatically different to indicate one was a preparatory work and preceded the other. Laboratory examination of the larger painting now for sale reveals changes in the under-drawing and the use of a ruled pencil that suggest it was the initial canvas.
Neither variant is dated. In both paintings Bridgman used a dark, dramatic chromatic range of colors for the Nubian servant but lighter, more pastel hues for the odalisque. Such combination of palettes as well as the strong modeling and overall sunlit room suggest a date somewhere between late 1880s and early 1890s. A Hot Day of Mustapha was exhibited in 1893 at the Chicago World’s Fair. This Afternoon, Algiers, was probably created around the same time.
Afternoon, Algiers has been in the same private collection for about a century, does not seem to have been illustrated in any literature nor exhibited.; it is new to the art market. A Hot Day at Mustapha, the smaller canvas, is better known as it has been through the U.S. and English art market several times during the 20th-century.

Dr. Ilene Susan Fort

Technical analysis by Gianluca Poldi

Non-invasive scientific examinations carried out on the painting indicate that is has been well conserved, with only a few retouches, especially considering that the canvas is, fortunately, not lined. The colours have been kept particularly brilliant, as is typical of this author, and some drips of varnish that can be seen in UV fluorescence both on the right and on the left side suggest it is probably still the original varnish. The signature is perfectly preserved.

The analyses show some interesting aspects of the way this artist worked, an artist who was already famous for his subjects and the quality of his painting.
IR reflectography shows the use of a black underdrawing. It is quite thin, behind figures and some objects and reveals some changes: the size of the left window shutter has been reduced one or two times, while the other shutter shows a peculiar triangular motif at its right, now covered by the red hanging garment. Some changes have occurred also under the right shutter. The upper profile of the woman lying on the sofa has also been corrected, with a little reduction of her raised arm. The small round table has been made smaller on the left, the legs of the gazelle have also been adjusted, as well as the profile of its neck and the profile of the child’s head and a few other small details. All these examples suggest Bridgman did not base his painting entirely on a finished drawing/underdrawing, we can assume that he adjusted the composition during the painting process, changing it according to his needs.
In the underdrawing, partly made with a dry medium and partly with a paintbrush, we can see the use of a ruler to trace some straight lines.
Raking light images, transmitted light and transmitted IR show stark differences in the thickness of the painting film in some areas, particularly the background, it can be explained with a partial scraping of the first painting draft (we do not know why). Other analyses on the artist’s works could clarify whether it is a practice common for him or an exception limited to this specific case.
The analyses of pigments by reflectance spectroscopy on more than 40 points show that the painter used cobalt blue extensively in all the blue areas, and viridian for the greens, obtaining a really large gamut, while lead white was preferred to modern whites like lithopone and zinc oxide, that were not found. Prussian blue was probably added to cobalt blue for the sky, while some peculiar blue hues, like the vase with flowers in the foreground, were achieved by mixing cobalt blue and viridian. Bridgman uses the intense tone of cobalt violet (cobalt phosphate, specifically) for the violet areas and –curiously– also in the red of the handbag on the left and on the hookah pipe seen on the windowsill.