Fidelia Bridges: Nature into Art

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, combines a recovery of the artist’s biography with close readings of her artworks.