Distinctly Montana Magazine

Distinctly Montana Spring 2014

Distinctly Montana Magazine

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w w w. d i s t i n c t ly m o n ta n a . c o m 23 yOur COlleCtiOn Of art wOrk is Massive…anD iMPOr- tant. Can yOu give Our reaDers a brief DesCriPtiOn Of the COlleCtiOn? My father, Lester Bridaham, was a museum direc- tor and an artist. He started collecting art in Europe in 1920 and continued buying art until 1990. My mother was an art historian and noted writer. Together, they enjoyed collecting works of art- ists that they knew, teachers at the Art Institute of Chicago School, and others throughout their lives. There are about 1,000 pieces in the Collection. the MOst PrOMinent artist in yOur COlleCtiOn seeMs tO be yOur father, lester briDahaM. hOw wOulD yOu DesCribe his talent anD the breaDth Of his wOrk? He trained at the Art Students League in New York City from 1928-1930, study- ing with Kimon Nicolaides and becoming his teaching assistant. His work was influenced by teachers at the school, Charles Burchfield and George Grosz, and inspired by a humorous and joyful regard for life. There were five major periods of his life when he was primarily painting: Morocco and France, New England in the 1930's, Florida, when he was stationed in the Navy during the Second World War, and the West, 1960's until 1990. His last work, My Secrets of the Grand Can- yon, was astounding — a series of 50 watercolors of the Grand Canyon that he did in a six-month period when he was 88 and 89. lester starteD Out his life with aDvanCeD Degrees in CheMiCal engineering, but then turneD tO a life Of art. DO yOu see any influenCe Of this sCientifiC baCkgrOunD in his wOrk? I think my father was too creative and too spiritual and influenced by the wonder and joy in life to be a chemical engineer. When he was at Cornell University, in 1918 at his fraternity house, Chi Psi, he saw the gargoyles on the house and that started him thinking about art. Later he wrote a book: Gargoyles, Chimeres & the Grotesque in French Gothic Sculpture. He was very interested in Alchemy, perhaps the antithesis of science, and created wonderful etchings and watercolors of the Alchemists' Shop. His large watercolor on the subject hangs in the Bozeman Public Library on loan from a private collector. his tiMe in franCe anD then MOrOCCO in the 1930's PrODuCeD a large bODy Of wOrk. why DO yOu think he was esPeCially PrOlifiC in these COuntries? He received an American Field Service Fellowship to paint in Morocco and Nor- mandy, France, in 1931 and 1932. In Morocco, he would walk around the markets in the morning and then, using only his memory, come back in the afternoon to his hotel room to paint watercolors of the people that he had seen that morning. lester seeMeD tO enJOy Painting in the bOth the naturalistiC style Of thOMas hart ben- tOn, but alsO DabbleD in fantastiC iMagery reMinisCent Of hierOnyMus bOsCh. Can yOu exPlain these Divergent Paths in his wOrk? He was very creative and loved to see designs and faces in nature. We can see that in his paintings from New England, such as Chew Four Freedom's Twist and Hungry is the Winter's Night. Both are powerful statements, and somewhat maca- bre. Also, in the Grand Canyon series the faces keep appearing. INtErvIEW WItH vIvIaN BrIDaHaM paINtINgS By LEStEr BrIDaHaM The Bridaham Collection A Corner of BLiss "Artfully uniting extraordinary properties with extraordinary lives." Self Portrait 1936 Oil with terre vert underpainting The Hunter Rewarded 1931 Watercolor Farmer in Jumieges 1930 Watercolor

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