BGuthrie Photos: CA -- Sacramento -- Crocker Art Museum -- Exhibit: The Crockers and Their Era

CA -- Sacramento -- Crocker Art Museum -- Exhibit: The Crockers and Their Era:

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[1] CROCCR_140718_02.JPG	[2] CROCCR_140718_09.JPG	[3] CROCCR_140718_12.JPG
[4] CROCCR_140718_18.JPG	[5] CROCCR_140718_22.JPG	[6] CROCCR_140718_28.JPG
[7] CROCCR_140718_34.JPG	[8] CROCCR_140718_39.JPG	[9] CROCCR_140718_43.JPG
[10] CROCCR_140718_46.JPG	[11] CROCCR_140718_50.JPG	[12] CROCCR_140718_57.JPG
[13] CROCCR_140718_60.JPG	[14] CROCCR_140718_62.JPG	[15] CROCCR_140718_65.JPG
[16] CROCCR_140718_74.JPG	[17] CROCCR_140718_80.JPG	[18] CROCCR_140718_84.JPG
[19] CROCCR_140718_87.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. CROCCR_140718_02.JPG: John Rogers The Slave Auction, 1859
2. CROCCR_140718_09.JPG: Stephen William Shaw Portrait of Mark Hopkins, 1874
3. CROCCR_140718_12.JPG: The Big Five These portraits of California's Big Four were part of a group of twenty-seven paintings commissioned by Edwin Crocker from artist Stephen W. Shaw of California's political, business, and cultural leaders. Seven portraits in the series were painted in a larger format and depict men connected with the Central Pacific Railroad. These include the Big Four (Stanford, Huntington, Hopkins, and Charles Crocker); S. S. Mantague, chief engineer for the Central Pacific Railroad; Robert Robinson, attorney for the Central Pacific Railroad; and Judge Crocker, chief legal counsel for the Central Pacific Railroad. By linking California to the rest of the country economically, socially, and politically, the transcontinental railroad enabled the Big Four to become the wealthiest and most powerful men of their generation. Construction of the railroad began on January 8, 1863, and was completed six years later on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Point, Utah. Judge EB Crocker's role in the project was pivotal, but just one month after the last spike was driven he suffered a paralytic stroke. Had he not be incapacitated and forced into early retirement, Crocker would likely be remembered as one of "The Big Five."
4. CROCCR_140718_18.JPG: Stephen William Shaw Portrait of Leland Stanford, 1874
5. CROCCR_140718_22.JPG: Stephen William Shaw Portrait of Collis P. Huntington, 1873
6. CROCCR_140718_28.JPG: Stephen William Shaw Portrait of Judge E.B. Crocker, 1873
7. CROCCR_140718_34.JPG: Thompson and West Property of Mrs. E.B. Crocker, N. W. Cor. 3rd & P Sts., Sacramento, Cal., c 1880
8. CROCCR_140718_43.JPG: The Crockers and Their Era Edwin Bryant and Margaret Rhodes Crocker became wealthy through EB Crocker's role as the attorney for the Central Pacific Railroad, a position that was instrumental in bringing the railroad to completion. Had Crocker lived longer, today's "Big Four" railroad principals -- Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, Collis P Huntington, and EB Crocker's brother Charles Crocker -- might better be known as the "Big Five." Crocker's first wife, Mary Norton, died in the late 1840s, leaving him with a young daughter. He married Margaret Rhodes in New York on July 8, 1852, just a few days before booking passage to California and settling in Sacramento. He was appointed a State Supreme Court Justice in 1863, but left the bench seven months later to serve as legal counsel for the Central Pacific Railroad Company. With their newfound wealth, the Crockers sought to bring culture to California. A paralytic stroke in June 1869 forced Judge Crocker to retire, but it also allowed him time to commission an art gallery building and embark on a Grand Tour to Europe with his family. Overseas from 1869 to 1871, the Crockers purchased the paintings and drawings that became the core of their museum. When they returned home, they commissioned and purchased works by Californian artists. Edwin did not enjoy his collections or gallery for long. When he died in 1875, the family legacy continued with Margaret. She emerged as a social and civic leader whose most philanthropic act was to present the "EB Crocker Art Gallery" and its collections to the City of Sacramento in May, 1885. Of the five children the Crockers had together, only two survived past their early 20s: Jennie, later Jennie Crocker Fassett, and the notorious Amy (later Aimee). Jennie, the couple's fourth child, married the attorney and businessman Jacob Sloan Fassett and traveled with him to Korea, where they owned seven gold mines. Aimee was an international social success, receiving widespread press for her clothing, travels, tattoos, and five marriages. Jennie had the most impact on her parents' gallery. Not only did she provide funding to help acquire the Crocker family home for future growth of the Museum, but she started the Museum's Asian collection by donating her collection of Korean ceramics. Aim�e Crocker From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Aim�e Crocker (December 5, 1864 – February 7, 1941) was an American heiress, princess, Bohemian, world traveler, mystic and author best known for her adventures in the Far East, for her extravagant parties in San Francisco, New York and Paris and for her collections of husbands and lovers, adopted children, Buddhas, pearls, tattoos and snakes.
9. CROCCR_140718_46.JPG: John Breuner Judge Crocker's Cylinder Roll-Top Desk, n.d.
10. CROCCR_140718_65.JPG: Truman Edmund Fassett Portrait of Mrs. J.S. Fassett (Jennie Louise Crocker), n.d.
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Wikipedia Description: Crocker Art Museum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Crocker Art Museum, formerly the E. B. Crocker Art Gallery, is one of the leading arts institutions in California, and the longest continuously-operating art museum in the West. Located in Sacramento, California, the Museum hosts one of the state’s premier collections of Californian art. The collection contains works dating from the Gold Rush to the present day, a world-renowned collection of master drawings, European paintings, one of the largest and most comprehensive international ceramics collections in the U.S. and collections of Asian, African, and Oceanic art. In addition to its collections, the Crocker offers a variety of public programs.

History

In 1869, Edwin B. Crocker, a banker and landowner of great wealth, and Margaret Crocker began to assemble a significant collection of paintings and drawings during an extended trip to Europe just a year after their purchase of land on the corner of Third and O Street in the city of Sacramento. As a prominent California family, the Crockers supported many social and civic causes. Judge Crocker (1818–1875) served on the State Supreme Court. His brother was Charles Crocker, one of the “Big Four” railroad barons. In 1885, his widow, Margaret (1822–1901), fulfilled their shared vision of creating a public art museum when she presented the E. B. Crocker Art Gallery and collection to the City of Sacramento and the California Museum Association, “in trust for the public.” the contents of which were valued at the time at more than $500,000.000.

While the Crocker Art Museum had undertaken a series of renovations and additions since it first opened as a public museum 125 years ago, the facility could not keep pace with the Museum’s burgeoning collection and the growing population of Sacramento and California's Central Valley Region. In 2000, the Crocker began a master planning process with Gwathmey Siegel & Associates and in 2002 commissioned the firm to design a major expansion of the Museum. The expanded Crocker Art Museum opened on October 10, 2010.

Permanent Collections

Californian Art & American Art

The Californian art collection includes works dating from statehood to the present day. The core collection of early Californian art was assembled by Judge E. B. and Margaret Crocker in the early 1870s and has continued to grow over the years. The Crocker now boasts 150 years of painting, sculpture, and craft media covering genres that include Impressionism, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art, and features artists such as Thomas Hill, Guy Rose, Joan Brown, and Wayne Thiebaud. The collection also includes American art from the late-19th century to the present. American Impressionists and Modernists are a particular strength, with iconic works by Childe Hassam, Robert Henri, and Georgia O'Keeffe. Other Twentieth Century painters represented include; Granville Redmond, Edwin Deakin, Maynard Dixon, Richard Diebenkorn, Mel Ramos, Jim Piskoti ("Justice"), Jess, and Luis Azaceta.

Works On Paper

The collection of approximately 1,500 master drawings is one of the finest early collections in the United States, with superb examples from the major European schools. Collection strengths include European drawings from the 17th and 18th centuries. Major drawings by artists such as Albrecht D�rer, Fra Bartolommeo, Fran�ois Boucher, and Jean-Honor� Fragonard are represented here. American photography and modern and contemporary California prints are also strengths of the works on paper collection.

European Art

The collection of European art was shaped by the Crocker family’s purchase of paintings during their grand tour of Europe between 1869 and 1871. This core collection focuses on Central European painting of the 19th century, Dutch and Flemish 16th and 17th-century painting, and Italian-Baroque painting. Painters represented at this art museum include; Antonio Joli, Guido Cagnacci, Gerrit van Honthorst, Nicolaes Maes, Nicolaes Molenaer, Pieter Quast ("Quarreling Women"), Bernhard Reinhold ("Young Mason Eating Lunch"), Andreas Achenbach, Karl von Piloty, Paul Blondeau ("Dordrecht"), Arnold Marc Gorter ("Canal Landscape With Trees"), Andreas Schelfhout, and Charles Christian Nahl.

International Ceramics

Since midcentury, the Museum has followed the development of notable Californian, American, and international ceramists such as Hamada Shoji and Lucie Rie. Major gifts to the museum celebrate craftsmanship, expand upon clay’s traditions, and test its boundaries as a medium. The history of ceramics is also explored in a superb collection of 18th–century Meissen porcelain tableware and in the works of ancient cultures dating to the Neolithic period.

Asian Art

The collection of Asian art is especially noted for its holdings of Chinese tomb furnishings and trade ceramics, and Japanese armor and tea ware. The collection is also notable for Korean ceramics which began with a gift by Judge E.B. and Margaret Crocker’s daughter Jennie Crocker Fassett in the 1920s. South and Southeast Asia are well represented through the William and Edith Cleary gift of more than 600 Indian and Persian miniature paintings and drawings, as well as Buddhist art from the region between Pakistan and Southeast Asia.

African & Oceanic Art

The collection of African and Oceanic art features a variety of objects created for daily life and traditional ceremonies. The art of the Asmat of New Guinea is strikingly evidenced in the towering memorials to ancestors, called bis poles.

The Crocker-Kingsley

A biennial exhibition has been held by the museum in cooperation with the Kingsley Art Club since 1927, and juried since 1940. Artists whose works have appeared include Robert Arneson, Elmer Bischoff, David Gilhooly, Ralph Goings, Roland Petersen, Mel Ramos, Fritz Scholder, and Wayne Thiebaud.

Main Buildings

Architecture

Crocker Art Museum; historic Art Gallery building

In 1868, Judge Edwin B. Crocker purchased the property and existing buildings on the corner of Third and O Streets. He then commissioned Seth Babson (1830–1908), a talented local architect, to redesign and renovate the home into a grander, Italianate mansion. In addition, Crocker asked Babson to design an elaborate gallery building that would sit adjacent to the mansion and display the family's growing art collection.

Babson saw the home and gallery as an integrated complex, unique in design and demanding the finest materials. The gallery building included a bowling alley, skating rink and billiards room on the ground floor; a natural history museum and a library on the first floor; and gallery space on the second floor. Completed in 1872, the Crocker family mansion and art gallery are considered the masterpieces of Babson's career.

The family mansion went through several uses and reconstructions until a 1989 renovation restored the historic fa�ade and created a modern gallery interior.

2010 expansion

On October 10, 2010 the Crocker Art Museum opened a new 125,000-square-foot (11,600 m2) building designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects founded by recognized architect Charles Gwathmey of group The New York Five. The roughly 37,600-square-foot (3,490 m2) custom facade system was designed and supplied by Overgaard Ltd., Hong Kong. The new building, named the Teel Family Pavilion, is attached to the museum's historic structures to expand the Crocker Art Museum's original and present traveling exhibitions as well as educational programs.

The controversial expansion has more than tripled the Crocker’s size to 145,000 square feet (13,500 m2) — adding four times the space for traveling exhibitions and three times the space for the Museum to showcase its permanent collection. The original museum only accommodated 4 percent of the museum's collection. 15 percent was displayed at the opening of the new section.

The expanded Museum includes a new education center with four studio art classrooms, an art education resource room for teachers and docents, an expanded library, and student and community exhibition galleries, as well as an auditorium and public gathering places. These new facilities allow the Crocker to present expanded programming, enabling the Museum to serve the community as never before.
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