Fidelia Bridges - (Northern Lights) by Katherine Manthorne (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Fidelia Bridges (1834-1923) painted pictures that critics praised for their ability to exude the fragrance of field flowers and glow with the plumage of birds. Raised in Salem and long residing in Connecticut, she maintained a studio in New York City, where she exhibited her art for over forty years at the National Academy, American Watercolor Society and other prestigious venues. Transforming flower painting from a domestic outlet for female amateurs to a marketable commodity for professionals, she never waived in her conviction that women had the right to shape independent careers on their own terms. Often, she combined plants with local birds to convey a sophisticated understanding of their environmental interaction that encouraged others to appreciate and conserve nature. Assembling a cross-section of her oil paintings, watercolours, chromolithographs, and illustrated volumes for the first time, and analysing them against letters, diaries, and periodical reviews, Fidelia Bridges combines a recovery of the artist's biography with close readings of her artworks.

About the Author

Katherine Manthorne is Professor of Modern Art of the Americas at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her recent books include Restless Enterprise: The Art & Life of Eliza Pratt Greatorex (2020) and Women in the Dark: Female Photographers in the United States, 1850-1900 (2020).