“From my beginnings in the early 1970s, my most common practice has been to work in various series, organizing the work accordingly. Whether I have made photographs, or worked in other media, my curiosities have been consistent: to examine humanity with my own place and role within humanity. As a photographer, my fascinations and curiosities have been in working with people. This has been the case for nearly fifty years of image making.” - Stephan Brigidi
Stephan Brigidi was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1951, and is a widely published artist whose work has been exhibited throughout the United States and Europe. Brigidi received his MFA at RI School of Design in 1976, studying with Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind. He received a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship to Italy from 1977-78 and a Photographer’s Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts 1978. He has also received artist grants for his photography from, the Universities of Hawaii and Connecticut, the Unicolor Corp., the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, and the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities. Brigidi has been an invited artist resident at MacDowell, Yaddo, and MASS/MoCA.
"Photography is the great universal language. What better means to celebrate our common humanity than to speak with the voice of photography." - Stephan Brigidi
In 1991 Brigidi collaborated with the poet, Robert Bly, on Angels of Pompeii, an artist portfolio and book published by Ballantine Books, New York. Remarkable People is Brigidi’s second book published in 1995 by the Sunningdale Foundation, RI. Afraid of the Dark: A Venetian Story, was published in 2015 by BVT Publishing, Reading, California. The Fire of Rome is Brigidi’s fourth book, completed in 2017 by Bristol Workshops editions. Brigidi has also completed his fifth book, Portrait as an Artist’s Limited Edition. Daylight Books has published Brigidi’s newest title, ROME 1970s in 2019. He is currently working on a new book project called, Simply Human and the Unlearning of a White Privileged Male.
Brigidi has taught photography, painting, and aesthetics since 1979 at such places as the Universities of Hawaii & Connecticut, Rhode Island College, Roger Williams University, and for many years at Rhode Island School of Design.
Selected Collections:
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Bibliotheque’ Nationale, Paris
American Academy at Rome
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
New Orleans Museum of Art
Center for Creative Photography, Univ. of Arizona
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island Historical Society
Collections of University of Parma, Italy
Chrysler Museum, Virginia
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago
Tampa Museum of Art, Florida
Cincinnati Art Museum
Bristol Community College
Museum of Art, University of Oregon
Smithsonian Institution
Library of Congress
Honolulu Museum of Art
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Newport Art Museum
Miami Art Museum
De Cordova Museum, Lincoln, Ma.
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento
H.L. Johnson Museum, Cornell University
Stanford Univ. Museum of Art
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Ma.
Fitchburg Art Museum, Ma.
Prudential Insurance Company, NY
Ramada Renaissance, NY; Taco Inc., RI
Citizens Financial Group, Providen