I whanau a Bridgman i Tuskegee, Alabama, ko ia te tama a te taote. I timata ia hei kaihoahoa i New York City, mo te American Bank Note Company i te 1864<unk>65, ka ako i te toi i nga tau ano i te Brooklyn Art Association me te National Academy of Design. I haere ia ki Paris i te 1866, a, i te 1867 ka uru ia ki te whare wananga o te kaitoi rongonui o Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824<unk>1904), i reira i tino awe ia e te tuhi tika a Gérôme, te pai o te mutunga, me te whakaaro ki nga kaupapa o te Waenganui-Rāwhiti. I muri mai, ka noho a Paris hei tona tari matua. I te 1874, i pootihia ia ki te National Academy of Design hei mema honohono, a ka noho hei mema tonu i te 1881.
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