February 1875 Poster – Fedilia Bridges – 1875

February 1875 Poster – Fidelia Bridges

Fidelia Bridges born in Salem, Massachusetts on 19th May 1834, She became one of the most renowned artists during the nineteenth century. Her career spanned over fifty years, longer than that of many of her male contemporaries.

Unusually for women during the mid to late nineteenth century who were held back by a male-dominated society, Bridges was one of the few women to have a successful career of any kind. Even more remarkably for the time, Bridges, as a female artist was able to support herself through her artistic endeavors, something many male painters of the era were unable to achieve.

In the Spring of 1873, at almost fifty years of age, Bridges became the first woman to be elected an Associate of the National Academy of Design. She was also the only woman among a group of seven artists in the early years of the American Watercolor Society. In 1876, was invited to exhibit her work at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia.

n an article on the artherstory website author wpengine writes ‘Her artworks of the 1870s seemed to fly off her easel, finding purchasers as fast as she could produce them. She complained, in fact, of feeling “like a machine,” churning out work. A review in The Brooklyn Eagle (July 30, 1874, p.3) confirmed: Miss Bridges is unquestionably one of the most successful of our local artists….Her pictures appear to have struck the popular fancy, and as a natural result, she has enjoyed a busy as well as a profitable year. Her pictures are of medium size and possess a delightful gray tone, very suggestive of nature. They are simple in subject also, and their story is always interesting.’

It was around the time, Bridges came to the attention of the American printer and publisher, Louis Prang. His company L. Prang & Company was founded in 1860 and had become successful in printing war maps during the Civil War. Prang went on to create a series of popular album cards, advertised to be collected into scrapbooks. A very popular pastime in England and America in the 18th century. At Christmas 1873, Prang began creating greeting cards for the popular market in England before starting to sell Christmas Cards in America in 1874.

Prang was an active supporter of women artists, both commissioning and collecting artworks by women. Many of his lithographs featured works by female artists^. It wasn’t long before the Boston-based lithographer spotted Bridges delicate, highly-detailed paintings of birds, flowers in their natural habitat. He figured that her subtle use of color and design was perfectly suited for his chromolithographic printing process. Bridges soon joined other well-known artists of the day including Winslow Homer and Thomas Moran having their artworks turned into printed reproductions.  Fidelia Bridges’ first project for him was an exquisite sequence of twelve pictures of birds and flowers referencing the changing faces of nature over the course of a year.

Her delicate, highly-detailed paintings of birds, flowers in their natural habitat, were regularly published in books and magazines and reproduced on greetings cards. The poster on this listing is from that set of 12 prints and is titled  ‘February 1875’. The delightful painting depicts two blue tits on a cold and snowy February morning

From her debut at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1862, Bridges until 1913 Fidelia Bridges is thought to have created about 1000 paintings.

When the Armory Show opened in New York, Chicago and Boston in 1913, it was the first, large exhibition of modern art in America. The show became an important event in the history of American art, introducing astonished Americans, who were accustomed to realistic art, to the experimental styles of the European avant-garde, including Fauvism, Post-impressionism and Cubism. Almost overnight, the realistic art style produced by artists such as Fidelia Bridges and her contemporaries fell out of vogue. Recently there has been a resurgence in her work and her paintings now continue to enjoy a robust market today.

Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears, or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.

The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a bargain of print and frame for a great price.