Frederic Arthur Bridgman (born 1847; died 1928), was born in Alabama but came from a family with Northern roots which prompted the family back to Boston. The young Bridgman enrolled in art school in Brooklyn and showed formidable talent at the yearly exhibitions. He felt the call of Europe early on and in 1866 he set off for France. Bridgman arrived in Paris in 1866, entering the studio of Gerome at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. After a trip to Algeria and Egypt in 1872 he turned his attention to North African subjects, emulating his master's precise and colorful manner. Throughout his career, Bridgman's primary concern was to depict the contemporary life of the natives and delve into their customs. He befriended many North Africans during the years he visited their countries and he became America's preeminent Orientalist painter.

Bridgman, the foremost American Orientalist, had his first solo exhibition in New York City in 1881. He was appointed Chairman of the American Artists Jury for the Paris Universal Exposition in 1889.