George Bridgman
Encyclopedia
George Brant Bridgman was a Canadian-American painter
, writer
, and teacher
in the fields of anatomy and figure drawing. Bridgman taught anatomy for artists at the Art Students League of New York
for some 45 years.
In his youth, Bridgman studied the arts under painter and sculptor Jean-Léon Gérôme
at the École des Beaux-Arts
in Paris, and later with Gustave Boulanger
. For most of his life Bridgman lived in New York where he taught anatomy
and figure drawing
at the Art Students League of New York
. Among his many thousands of students were the American cartoonist Will Eisner
and Norman Rockwell
; in his autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator, Rockwell spoke highly of Bridgman. His successor at Art Students League was Robert Beverly Hale
.
Bridgman used box forms to represent the major masses of the figure (head, thorax, and pelvis) which he would tie together with gestural lines and produce to create "wedges" or simplified interconnecting forms of the body.
, Gifford Beal
, Chon Day, Will Eisner
, Seymour Foge, Elias Goldberg, Robert Beverly Hale
, Clark Hulings
, Jack Kamen
, Deane Keller
, Andrew Loomis
, Anita Malfatti
, Paul Manship
, Peter Max
, Earl Moran
, Kimon Nicolaïdes
, Corrado Parducci
, Ulysses Ricci
, Norman Rockwell
, Ernie Schroeder
, Archie Boyd Teater
, John Vassos
, Edmund Ward
, Stanley Maxwell Zuckerberg, and Frank McCarthy
.
Jackson Pollock
's sketchpad features work from Bridgman's books.
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, and teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
in the fields of anatomy and figure drawing. Bridgman taught anatomy for artists at the Art Students League of New York
Art Students League of New York
The Art Students League of New York is an art school located on West 57th Street in New York City. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists, and has maintained for over 130 years a tradition of offering reasonably priced classes on a...
for some 45 years.
In his youth, Bridgman studied the arts under painter and sculptor Jean-Léon Gérôme
Jean-Léon Gérôme
Jean-Léon Gérôme was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academicism. The range of his oeuvre included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits and other subjects, bringing the Academic painting tradition to an artistic climax.-Life:Jean-Léon Gérôme was born...
at the École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...
in Paris, and later with Gustave Boulanger
Gustave Boulanger
Gustave Clarence Rodolphe Boulanger was a French figure painter known for his Neo-Grec style. He was born at Paris, studied with Delaroche and Jollivet, and in 1849 took the Prix de Rome. His paintings are prime examples of academic art of the time, particularly history painting...
. For most of his life Bridgman lived in New York where he taught anatomy
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...
and figure drawing
Figure drawing
In art, a figure drawing is a study of the human form in its various shapes and body postures - sitting, standing or even sleeping. It is a study or stylized depiction of the human form, with the line and form of the human figure as the primary objective, rather than the subject person. It is a...
at the Art Students League of New York
Art Students League of New York
The Art Students League of New York is an art school located on West 57th Street in New York City. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists, and has maintained for over 130 years a tradition of offering reasonably priced classes on a...
. Among his many thousands of students were the American cartoonist Will Eisner
Will Eisner
William Erwin "Will" Eisner was an American comics writer, artist and entrepreneur. He is considered one of the most important contributors to the development of the medium and is known for the cartooning studio he founded; for his highly influential series The Spirit; for his use of comics as an...
and Norman Rockwell
Norman Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell was a 20th-century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of American culture. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening...
; in his autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator, Rockwell spoke highly of Bridgman. His successor at Art Students League was Robert Beverly Hale
Robert Beverly Hale
Robert Beverly Hale was an artist, curator of American paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and instructor of artistic anatomy at the Art Students League of New York and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art...
.
Bridgman used box forms to represent the major masses of the figure (head, thorax, and pelvis) which he would tie together with gestural lines and produce to create "wedges" or simplified interconnecting forms of the body.
Notable students
Artists who studied with Bridgman include: McClelland BarclayMcClelland Barclay
McClelland Barclay was an American painter of pin-up art. Born in St. Louis in 1891, Barclay studied first at the Art Institute of Chicago, then later at the Art Students League in New York City, where he studied under George Bridgman and Thomas Fogarty...
, Gifford Beal
Gifford Beal
Gifford Beal was an American artist noted for his work as a painter, watercolorist, printmaker and muralist.-Early life:Born in New York City, Gifford Beal was the youngest son in a family of six surviving children...
, Chon Day, Will Eisner
Will Eisner
William Erwin "Will" Eisner was an American comics writer, artist and entrepreneur. He is considered one of the most important contributors to the development of the medium and is known for the cartooning studio he founded; for his highly influential series The Spirit; for his use of comics as an...
, Seymour Foge, Elias Goldberg, Robert Beverly Hale
Robert Beverly Hale
Robert Beverly Hale was an artist, curator of American paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and instructor of artistic anatomy at the Art Students League of New York and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art...
, Clark Hulings
Clark Hulings
Clark Hulings was an American realist painter. He was born in Florida and raised in New Jersey. Clark also lived in Spain, New York, Louisiana, and throughout Europe before settling in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the early 1970s...
, Jack Kamen
Jack Kamen
Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...
, Deane Keller
Deane Keller
Deane Keller was an American artist, academic, soldier, art restorer and preservationist. He taught for 40 years at Yale University's School of Fine Arts.-Early life:Keller was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1901...
, Andrew Loomis
Andrew Loomis
William Andrew Loomis , better known simply as Andrew Loomis, was an American illustrator, author, and art instructor. His commercial work was featured prominently in advertising and magazines; however, Loomis is best known as author a series of instructional art books printed throughout the 20th...
, Anita Malfatti
Anita Malfatti
Anita Catarina Malfatti is heralded as the first Brazilian artist to introduce European and American forms of Modernism to Brazil...
, Paul Manship
Paul Manship
Paul Howard Manship was an American sculptor.-Life:Manship began his art studies at the St. Paul School of Art in Minnesota. From there he moved to Philadelphia and continued his education at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts...
, Peter Max
Peter Max
Peter Max is a German-born Jewish American artist. At first, works in this style appeared on posters and were seen on the walls of college dorms all across America. Max then became fascinated with new printing techniques that allowed for four-color reproduction on product merchandise...
, Earl Moran
Earl Moran
Earl Steffa Moran , born in Belle Plaine, Iowa, was a 20th Century pin-up and glamour artist. Moran's first instruction in art came under the direction of John Stich, an elderly German artist who also taught the great illustrator W.H.D. Koerner...
, Kimon Nicolaïdes
Kimon Nicolaides
Kimon Nicolaїdes was an American art teacher, author and artist. During World War I, he served in the U.S. Army in France as a camouflage artist.-Early life:...
, Corrado Parducci
Corrado Parducci
Corrado Giuseppe Parducci was an Italian-American architectural sculptor who was a celebrated artist for his numerous early 20th Century works.-Early life and education:...
, Ulysses Ricci
Ulysses Ricci
Ulysses Ricci was an American sculptor known primarily for his architectural sculpture. Born in New York City, Ricci was an apprentice at the Perth Amboy Terra Cotta Works in New Jersey from 1902 to 1906. He studied at Cooper Union Institute and at the Art Students League with James Earle...
, Norman Rockwell
Norman Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell was a 20th-century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of American culture. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening...
, Ernie Schroeder
Ernie Schroeder
Ernest C. "Ernie" Schroeder was an American comic book artist and a commercial illustrator and sculptor, best known for drawing and co-writing Hillman Periodicals' influential muck-monster the Heap from 1949 to 1953....
, Archie Boyd Teater
Archie Boyd Teater
Archie Boyd Teater was an American landscape and genre artist who painted in an untutored impressionist style.- Biography :...
, John Vassos
John Vassos
John Vassos was a noted American industrial designer and graphic designer.Vassos was born in Romania to Greek parents, and moved when young to Istanbul, Turkey, where he drew political cartoons for his father's newspaper...
, Edmund Ward
Edmund Franklin Ward
Edmund F. Ward illustrated for the Saturday Evening Post and did his first illustrations for the magazine before turning age 20. He had a successful career as an illustrator of works that ranged in style and subject matter from dark tonalist in oils to humorous in wash and watercolor...
, Stanley Maxwell Zuckerberg, and Frank McCarthy
Frank McCarthy (artist)
Frank McCarthy born New York City 1924 died of lung cancer on 17 November 2002 in Sedona, Arizona was a prolific American artist and realist painter renowned for advertisements, magazine artwork, paperback covers, film posters, and paintings of the American West.He studied under George Bridgman and...
.
Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...
's sketchpad features work from Bridgman's books.
Works
Many of Bridgman's standard books on anatomy for artists are still in print via Dover Publications.- Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life
- Constructive Anatomy
- The Human Machine
- Bridgman's Life Drawing
- Heads, Features and Faces
- The Book of a Hundred Hands