Returning in 1924 from New York, Brigante settled in the Hollywood hills, at that time still a rural area. He often went to nearby Elysian Park to draw and paint.
Brigante’s art after his New York visit exhibits a more sophisticated treatment of nature, a more facile use of the watercolor medium, and a less-radical approach to abstraction. He did not allow his knowledge of modernism to distract him from conveying the spirit of a scene. In these three watercolors, completed shortly after his return, he described the essence of natural growth by using short brush strokes and arcing lines for twisted trunks and limbs. He painted the scene in bright, warm peaches, pinks, and roses and complementary purples and greens in thin, delicate washes shimmering with light. The pigments were applied somewhat dryly on a rough paper so that bits of it are exposed. In these respects Brigante followed the practices of Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), whom he admired. One of these watercolors may have been exhibited during the 1920s in New York at the New Gallery.
