Nicholas P. Brigante was born in Padua, Italy in 1895. His family moved to Los Angeles 1897. He began his art career as a sign painter and during this period, he began studying landscape painting with Hanson Puthuff, Rex Slinkard, and Val Costello. After returning from service in World War II, he studied with Stanton MacDonald-Wright, who founded an influential theory of painting called Synchronism. He professed the use of color was governed by natural laws that endow each color with its own character and emotional quality.

Brigante continued to work as an artist, and in 1921 he had his first exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. From 1923 to 1924, he went to New York City where his work was exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum. After returning to Los Angeles he joined the California Watercolor Society and began experimenting with watercolors. Brigante’s proficiency with composition and color gained acclaim in the artist community.

Brigante often painted scenes of ships and seascapes. He utilized a modernist style with loose, expressionist strokes, strong color and flattened lines.  He also utilized techniques similar to the theories of Stanton McDonald-Wright’s Synchronism. During the 1930s he became interested in figure painting and depictions of pre-historic man. By 1960, Brigante primarily worked with a wet technique using black India ink wash on heavy paper. With this technique he completed the Burnt Mountain series, the Tide Pool series, and the Space series. After 1975, he painted mostly acrylic panels.

His work is held in museums including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA; San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; The Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard, CA; The Newark Museum, Newark, NJ.