Arab Women On A Rooftop, Algiers Beyond 

Frederick Arthur Bridgman painted “Arab Women on a Rooftop, Algiers Beyond” with oil on canvas sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Like many artists of his time, Bridgman was drawn to the Maghreb, and what he believed to be the exoticism of North Africa. In this painting, the artist employs a range of visual codes, with orientalist, and colonial associations, that spoke to the European fascination with the "Orient." The depiction of women, particularly in domestic or private settings, was a common trope. We see a romanticized vision of Algerian life, likely shaped by European expectations and fantasies. The artwork, therefore, speaks less about Algerian culture itself, and more about the social and cultural context of its production – that is, European orientalism. To fully understand a painting like this we might look at travel writing, colonial records, and the history of orientalist art.