The Crocker Art Museum is the oldest art museum in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...

, located in

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

. Founded in 1885, the museum holds one of the premier collections of Californian art. The collection includes American works dating from the

Gold Rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

to the present, European paintings and master drawings, one of the largest international ceramics collections in the U.S., and collections of Asian, African, and Oceanic art. The Crocker Art Museum is accredited by the

American Alliance of Museums The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), formerly the American Association of Museums, is a non-profit association whose goal is to bring museums together. Founded in 1906, the organization advocates for museums and provides "museum professionals w ...

History

Edwin B. Crocker (1818–1875), a wealthy California lawyer and judge, and his wife, Margaret Crocker (1822–1901), began to assemble a significant collection of paintings and drawings during an extended trip to Europe, from 1869 to 1871. Upon their return to Sacramento, they set about creating an art gallery in part of their grand home at the corner of Third and O streets. When the gallery was completed, it was opened to the public with proceeds funding the Sacramento Library. With 694 paintings, the gallery boasted the largest private collection in the country, and held more paintings than the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

. The gallery became of the hub of social activity in Sacramento, hosting benefits for local organizations and welcoming prominent visitors including the Hawaiian queen,

Liliʻuokalani Queen Liliʻuokalani (; Lydia Liliʻu Loloku Walania Kamakaʻeha; September 2, 1838 – November 11, 1917) was the only queen regnant and the last sovereign monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom, ruling from January 29, 1891, until the overthrow of th ...

(1878), President

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...

(1879), and

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

(1882).

E. B. Crocker died in 1875. In 1885, his widow loaned the gallery to the California Museum Association (CMA) for Central California's first Art and Curio Loan Exhibition. This exhibition lasted two weeks and was a great success. The CMA's president, David Lubin, convinced Margaret (and E.B. Crocker's three daughters, who had equal rights to the gallery through Crocker's will) to donate the space to the museum association to ensure the long-term preservation of the gallery. Margaret Crocker was made a life director and 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. A school of art was established at the gallery in 1886. In 1978, the Crocker Art Gallery was renamed the Crocker Art Museum. In 2002, to accommodate a burgeoning collection and the needs of the growing population of Sacramento and California's Central Valley region, the museum commissioned the firm of Gwathmey Siegel & Associates to design a major addition. The greatly expanded Crocker Art Museum opened on October 10, 2010.

Permanent collections

Californian art and American art

The Californian art collection includes works dating from statehood to the present. The core collection of early Californian art was assembled by Judge E. B. and Margaret Crocker in the early 1870s. Prominent in their collection are works by the German-American artist Charles Christian Nahl, who brought the large scale and copious detail of European

history painting History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and B ...

to works depicting the

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

. The Crockers commissioned five major works from Nahl, including ''Sunday Morning in the Mines'' (1872). The Californian collection continued to expand, and now contains 150 years of painting, sculpture, and craft media covering genres that include

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depressi ...

, and Pop Art, and features artists including early Sacramento painter

Amanda Austin Amanda Petronella Austin (1859 – 1917) was an American painter and sculptor. Biography A native of Carrollton, Missouri, Austin studied from 1877 to 1879 at the University of Missouri, becoming a favored pupil of George Caleb Bingham, to w ...

, Norton Bush, William Keith, Thomas Hill,

Granville Redmond Granville Richard Seymour Redmond (March 9, 1871 – May 24, 1935) was an American landscape painter and exponent of Tonalism and California American Impressionism, Impressionism. He was also an occasional actor with his friend Charlie Chapli ...

Edwin Deakin Edwin Deakin (May 21, 1838 – May 11, 1923) was a British-American artist best known for his romanticism, romantic landscapes as well as his architectural studies, especially the Spanish colonial missions of California. His still lifes are cons ...

Guy Rose Guy Orlando Rose (March 3, 1867 – November 17, 1925) was an American Impressionist painter and California resident, who received national recognition in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Early life and education Guy Orlando Rose was bo ...

, Gottardo Piazzoni,

Joan Brown Joan Brown (born Joan Vivien Beatty; February 13, 1938 – October 26, 1990) was an American figurative painter who lived and worked in Northern California. She was a member of the "second generation" of the Bay Area Figurative Movement.Gl ...

Elmer Bischoff Elmer Nelson Bischoff (July 9, 1916 – March 2, 1991), was an American visual artist, from the San Francisco Bay Area. Bischoff, along with Richard Diebenkorn and David Park (painter), David Park, was part of the post-World War II generation of ...

, Roland Petersen, David Park,

Jess Jess is a unisex given name, often a short form (hypocorism) of Jessica, Jesse, Jessie, Jessy, Jesswin and a surname. It may refer to: Given name * Jess Atkinson (born 1961), American football player * Jess Cain (1926–2008), American radi ...

Richard Diebenkorn Richard Diebenkorn (April 22, 1922 – March 30, 1993) was an American painter and printmaker. His early work is associated with abstract expressionism and the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In the late 1960s he began ...

Mel Ramos Melvin John Ramos (July 24, 1935 – October 14, 2018) was an American Figurative art, figurative painter, specializing most often in paintings of Nude (art), female nudes, whose work incorporates elements of Realism (arts), realist and abstract ...

, and

Wayne Thiebaud Wayne Thiebaud ( ; born Morton Wayne Thiebaud; November 15, 1920 – December 25, 2021) was an American painter known for his colorful works depicting commonplace objects—pies, cakes, lipsticks, paint cans, ice cream cones, pastries, and hot d ...

. The collection also includes American art from the late 19th century to the present.

American impressionists American Impressionism was a style of painting related to European Impressionism and practiced by American artists in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth. The style is characterized by loose ...

and modernists are a particular strength, with artists including

Childe Hassam Frederick Childe Hassam (; October 17, 1859 – August 27, 1935) was an American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressionis ...

Robert Henri Robert Henri (; June 24, 1865 – July 12, 1929) was an American painter and teacher. As a young man, he studied in Paris, where he identified strongly with the Impressionists, and determined to lead an even more dramatic revolt against A ...

Georgia O'Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 March 6, 1986) was an American Modernism, modernist painter and drafter, draftswoman whose career spanned seven decades and whose work remained largely independent of major art movements. Called the "M ...

Maynard Dixon Maynard Dixon (January 24, 1875 – November 11, 1946) was an American artist. He was known for his paintings, and his body of work focused on the American West. Dixon is considered one of the finest artists having dedicated most of their art to ...

Marsden Hartley Marsden Hartley (January 4, 1877 – September 2, 1943) was an American Modernist painter, poet, and essayist. Hartley developed his painting abilities by observing Cubist artists in Paris and Berlin. Early life and education Hartley was bor ...

Hans Hofmann Hans Hofmann (March 21, 1880 – February 17, 1966) was a German-born American painter, renowned as both an artist and teacher. His career spanned two generations and two continents, and is considered to have both preceded and influenced Abstrac ...

, and

Luis Cruz Azaceta Luis Cruz Azaceta (born April 5, 1942) is a Cuban-American painter. Azateca has been painting and drawing since the late 1970s. In usually large-format works executed with expressive colors, Cruz Azaceta has dealt with themes of urban violence, ...

European art

Original collection

The collection of European art began with the Crocker family's trip to Europe, from 1869 to 1871. It was not a Grand Tour. The Crockers rented lodgings in Dresden for over a year, and traveled mostly in Germany. As a later director of the museum would write, "Mr. Crocker was a novice and completely susceptible to a kind of fraud in his anxiety to become the possessor of a large collection of masterpieces. He acquired in his wholesale search a collection of more than 700 paintings," most of them "not by the few famous names given him by the dealers in Munich and Dresden."Frank. W. Kent, "Introduction: The Story of the Crocker Art Gallery," ''E.B. Crocker Art Gallery Catalogue of Collections'', 1964. (Works said to be by

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

Poussin Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was a French painter who was a leading painter of the Classicism, classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and ...

Salvator Rosa Salvator Rosa (1615 – March 15, 1673) is best known today as an Italian Baroque painter, whose romanticized landscapes and history paintings, often set in dark and untamed nature, exerted considerable influence from the 17th century into the ...

, and even

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

appear in the initial 1876 catalogue, but were reattributed in following decades.) However, among Crocker's purchases were a number of genuinely rare works by a broader array of artists than he realized, and for a brief time the Crockers possessed the largest private art collection in the United States.Richard V. West, "The Crockers and Their Collection: A Brief History," ''Crocker Art Museum Handbook of Paintings'', 1979. Oedipus and Antigone by Franz Dietrich

Along with paintings, the Crockers also acquired 1344 Old Master drawingsWilliam Breazeale, PhD, "European Art," ''The Crocker Art Museum Collection: Unveiled'', edited by Scott A. Shields, 2010. "and untold numbers of prints of rare craftsmanship." Systematic study of the origin and significance of these drawings began only in the 21st century.William Breazeale, "Old Masters in Old California: The Origins of the Drawings Collection at the Crocker Art Museum'" ''Master Drawings'', Vol. 46, No. 2 (Summer, 2008), pp. 205-226. Of more certain provenance were the numerous German and Central European paintings Crocker purchased, many by artists who were alive and working at the time. These 19th-century paintings would form the core of the European collection, along with a number of 17th-century Flemish and

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands which roughly lasted from 1588, when the Dutch Republic was established, to 1672, when the '' Rampjaar'' occurred. During this period, Dutch trade, scientific development ...

still lifes A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or human-made (drinking glasses, books, ...

and genre scenes, as well as French and Italian works of the 17th and 18th centuries. Artists represented in Crocker's original collection include

Maarten van Heemskerck Maarten van Heemskerck (born Maerten Jacobsz van Veen; 1 June 1498 – 1 October 1574), also known as Marten Jacobsz Heemskerk van Veen, was a Dutch portrait and religious painter, who spent most of his career in Haarlem. He was a pupil of Jan ...

Jan Brueghel the Elder Jan Brueghel (also Bruegel or Breughel) the Elder ( , ; ; 1568 – 13 January 1625) was a Flemish painting, Flemish painter and Draughtsmanship, draughtsman. He was the younger son of the eminent Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, Flemish ...

, Klaes Molenaer, Pieter Quast,

Antonio Joli Antonio Francesco Lodovico Joli (13 March 1700 – 29 April 1777) was an Italian painter of ''vedute'' and ''capricci''. Biography Born in Modena, he first was apprenticed to Rafaello Rinaldi. He then studied in Rome under Giovanni Paolo P ...

Francesco Solimena Francesco Solimena (4 October 1657 – 3 April 1747) was a prolific Italian Baroque painter, one of an established family of painters and draughtsmen. Biography Francesco Solimena was born in Canale di Serino in the province of Avellino. H ...

Paolo de Matteis Paolo de Matteis (also known as ''Paolo de' Matteis''; 9 February 1662 – 26 January 1728) was an List of Italian painters, Italian painter. Biography He was born in Piano Vetrale, a hamlet of Orria, in the current Province of Salerno, and died ...

, Claude-Joseph Vernet,

Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...

, Andreas Achenbach, Maria van Oosterwyck, and

Karl von Piloty Karl Theodor von Piloty (1 October 1826 – 21 July 1886) was a German painter, noted for his historical subjects, and recognised as the foremost representative of the realistic school in Germany. Life and work Piloty was born in Munich. His fath ...

. It was only in 1940 that some of these paintings resurfaced after having stayed 50 years virtually forgotten in the basement of the old Crocker Mansion in Sacramento. Simon Vouet--Salome--1626-1627--Crocker Art Museum--Sacramento

Simon Vouet--Salome--1626-1627--Crocker Art Museum--Sacramento

Later acquisitions

Beginning in the 21st century, gifts by philanthropist Alan Templeton have expanded the scope of the European collection to include works by Italian artists

Guercino Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666),Miller, 1964 better known as (il) Guercino (), was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vigorous n ...

il Morazzone Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli (commonly known as il Morazzone; 1573–1626) was an Italian painter and draughtsman who was active in Milan. He is mainly known for his altarpieces, but his outstanding achievements are large decorative frescoes ...

Bernardo Strozzi Bernardo Strozzi, named il Cappuccino and il Prete Genovese (c. 1581 – 2 August 1644), was an Italian Baroque painter and engraver. A canvas and fresco artist, his wide subject range included History painting, history, Allegory, allegorica ...

, and

Rosalba Carriera Rosalba Carriera (12 January 1673 – 15 April 1757) was an Italians, Italian Rococo painter. In her younger years, she specialized in portrait miniatures. Carriera would later become known for her pastel portraits, helping popularize the medium ...

, the Swedish portrait painter

Alexander Roslin Alexander Roslin (; spelled Alexandre in French, ; 15 July 17185 July 1793) was a Swedish painter who worked in Scania, Bayreuth, Paris, Italy, Warsaw and St. Petersburg, primarily for members of aristocratic families. He combined insightful psyc ...

, and French artists

Simon Vouet Simon Vouet (; 9 January 1590 – 30 June 1649) was a French painter who studied and rose to prominence in Italy before being summoned by Louis XIII to serve as Premier peintre du Roi in France. He and his studio of artists created religious and ...

Philippe de Champaigne Philippe de Champaigne (; 26 May 1602 – 12 August 1674) was a Duchy of Brabant, Brabant-born French people, French Baroque era painter, a major exponent of the French art, French school. He was a founding member of the Académie royale de pein ...

Jean-Baptiste Perronneau Jean-Baptiste Perronneau (; c. 1716 – 19 November 1783) was a French art, French Rococo painting, Rococo painter and draughtsman, best known for his portrait pastels. Biography Perronneau was born in Paris. His exact date of birth is un ...

, Charles Poërson, Pierre-Alexandre Wille, Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, and

Robert Lefèvre Robert Jacques François Faust Lefèvre (, 24 September 1755, in Bayeux – 3 October 1830, in Paris) was a French painter of portraits, history paintings and religious paintings. He was heavily influenced by Jacques-Louis David and his style is ...

, as well as English portraitist

Sir Thomas Lawrence Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English people, English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was a ...

, Austrian artists Josef Danhauser and Adolf Hirémy-Hirschl, German artist

Heinrich Vogeler Johann Heinrich Vogeler (December 12, 1872 – June 14, 1942) was a German people, German painter, designer, and architect, associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. Early life He was born in Bremen, and studied at the Kunstakadem ...

, and the Dutch artists Abraham Hondius and

Jan van Bijlert Jan Hermansz van Bijlert (1597 or 1598 – November 1671) was a Dutch Golden Age painter from Utrecht, one of the Utrecht Caravaggisti whose style was influenced by Caravaggio. He spent some four years in Italy and was one of the founders of th ...

. Gifts and promised gifts by the Beekhuis family of 67 19th-century Dutch landscapes are presented in the Beekhuis Foundation Gallery, including works by Johannes Hermanus Koekkoek and his descendants, and various painters of the

Hague School The Hague School () is a group of artists who lived and worked in The Hague between 1860 and 1890. Their work was heavily influenced by the realist painters of the French Barbizon school. The painters of the Hague school generally made use of re ...

. The Crocker's holdings of European art after 1900 are small, but include one of Northern California's most significant collections of works by

Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that ...

, in part due to gifts from the artist's grandson, Alain Renoir, a professor at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. These include three small bronzes, two terra cotta relief sculptures, a Cagnes landscape painting, and works on paper, and also a ceramic vase by

Jean Renoir Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. His '' La Grande Illusion'' (1937) and '' The Rules of the Game'' (1939) are often cited by critics as among the greate ...

. Works after 1900 also include two portraits of Crocker family members by

Giovanni Boldini Giovanni Boldini (31 December 1842 – 11 January 1931) was an Italian genre and portrait painter who lived and worked in Paris for most of his career. According to a 1933 article in ''Time'' magazine, he was known as the "Master of Swish" beca ...

Works on paper

The collection of approximately 1,500 Old Master drawings include examples from the major European schools. Collection strengths include European drawings from the 17th and 18th centuries. Major drawings by artists such as

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer ( , ;; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer or Duerer, was a German painter, Old master prin ...

Fra Bartolommeo Fra Bartolomeo or Bartolommeo (, , ; 28 March 1472 – 31 October 1517), also known as Bartolommeo di Pagholo, Bartolommeo di San Marco, Bartolomeo di Paolo di Jacopo del Fattorino, and his original nickname Baccio della Porta, was an Ital ...

François Boucher François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...

, and

Jean-Honoré Fragonard Jean-Honoré Fragonard (; 5 April 1732 (birth/baptism certificate) – 22 August 1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific art ...

are represented. American photography and modern and contemporary California prints are also strengths of the works on paper collection. Vasudhara_at_Crocker_Art_Museum

Asian Art

The collection began with a gift of Korean ceramics by Judge E.B. and Margaret Crocker's daughter Jennie Crocker Fassett in the 1920s. The collection of Asian art is noted for its holdings of Chinese tomb furnishings and trade ceramics, and Japanese armor and tea ware. 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.

Ceramics

Since mid-century, the Museum has followed the development of notable Californian, American, and international ceramists such as Hamada Shoji and

Lucie Rie Dame Lucie Rie, (16 March 1902 – 1 April 1995) () was an Austrian-born, independent, British studio potter. She is known for her extensive technical knowledge, her meticulously detailed experimentation with glazes and with firing and her unu ...

. The history of ceramics is also explored through a collection of 18th-century

Meissen porcelain Meissen porcelain or Meissen china was the first Europe, European hard-paste porcelain. Early experiments were done in 1708 by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus. After his death that October, Johann Friedrich Böttger continued von Tschirnhaus's ...

tableware and in the works of ancient cultures dating to the

Neolithic period The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wid ...

African and 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 New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

is strikingly evidenced in the towering memorials to ancestors, called bis poles.

The Crocker-Kingsley Exhibitions

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 Robert Carston Arneson (September 4, 1930 – November 2, 1992) was an American sculptor and professor of ceramics in the Art department at University of California, Davis for nearly three decades. Early life and education Robert Carston Arnes ...

David Gilhooly David Gilhooly (also known as David James Gilhooly III; April 15, 1943 – August 21, 2013) was an American ceramicist, sculptor, painter, printmaker, and professor. He is best known for pioneering the Funk art movement. He made a series of ...

Ralph Goings Ralph Goings (May 9, 1928 – September 4, 2016) was an American Painting, painter closely associated with the Photorealism movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was best known for his highly detailed paintings of hamburger stands, pick- ...

, Roland Petersen,

Fritz Scholder Fritz William Scholder V (October 6, 1937 – February 10, 2005) was a Native American artist, who produced paintings, monotypes, lithographs, and sculptures. Scholder was an enrolled member of the La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians, a federally r ...

, and

. Kingsley Art Club's Crocker-Kingsley exhibition web page

Museum buildings

File:Crocker vintage image.jpg,

Crocker family mansion and art gallery

In 1868, Judge Edwin B. Crocker purchased the property and existing building, built by B. F. Hastings in 1853, on the corner of Third and O Streets. In 1871 he commissioned Seth Babson (1830–1908), a local architect, to add a new building to the home to hold his growing art collection. (Babson had previously designed the home now known as the Leland Stanford Mansion in Sacramento.) Crocker asked Babson to design an elaborate gallery building in the Italianate style that would sit adjacent to the mansion and display the family's growing art collection. Old Main entrance to the crocker Art Museum

Old Main entrance to the crocker Art Museum

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; a 60 ft long ballroom, and a grand staircase. Public rooms were decorated with gold-leafed and frescoed panels, separated by long mirrors. Completed in 1874, 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 façade and created a modern gallery interior.

2010 expansion

On October 10, 2010, the Crocker Art Museum opened a new building designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects founded by

Charles Gwathmey Charles Gwathmey (June 19, 1938 – August 3, 2009) was an American architect. He was a principal at Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, as well as one of the five architects identified as The New York Five in 1969. Gwathmey was perhaps be ...

, known for having been a member of

The New York Five The New York Five was a group of architects based in New York City whose work was featured in the 1972 book ''Five Architects''. The architects, Peter Eisenman, Michael Graves, Charles Gwathmey, John Hejduk, and Richard Meier, are also often refer ...

, a group of like-minded architects. The 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. The expansion more than tripled the Crocker's size, from , adding four times the space for traveling exhibitions and three times the space for the Museum to showcase its permanent collection. The original museum accommodated only 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. File:Crocker2 35484 (cropped2).jpg, The Teel Family Pavilion, the new wing of the Crocker Art Museum.

Selected collection highlights (chronological)

File:N.d. de Heem--ca1570-ca1632--Still Life with Fruit--Dutch--wikicommons.jpg, David de Heem I (c.1570-c.1632), ''Still Life with Fruit'' File:Allegory of Life attributed to Guido Cagnacci, Crocker Art Museum.jpg, Attributed to Guido Cagnacci, ''Allegory of Life'', 17th century File:1605-09 Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli--called Il Morazzone--the virgin annunciate--Crocker Art Museum--Sacramento.jpg,

Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli (commonly known as il Morazzone; 1573–1626) was an Italian painter and draughtsman who was active in Milan. He is mainly known for his altarpieces, but his outstanding achievements are large decorative frescoes ...

(called Il Morazzone), ''The Virgin Annunciate'', 1605-1609 File:1650 Guercino--Saint Peter--Crocker Art Museum--Sacramento.jpg,

, ''Saint Peter'', 1650 File:N.d. Claude Joseph Vernet--1714-1789--Cain And Abel Bringing Their Sacrifices--Crocker Art Museum--Sacramento.jpg, Claude-Joseph Vernet (1714-1789), ''Cain and Abel Bringing Their Sacrifices'' File:1746 CWE Dietrich--Holy Family in a Carpenters Shop--Crocker Art Museum--Sacramento.jpg, Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich, ''The Holy Family in a Carpenter's Shop'', c. 1746 File:1772 Louis-Jean-François Lagrenee--Le Lever de lAurore--Break of Dawn--Crocker Art Museum--Sacramento.jpg, Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, ''Break of Dawn'', 1772 File:The artist Anne Vallayer-Coster.jpg,

, ''

Anne Vallayer-Coster Anne Vallayer-Coster (21 December 1744 – 28 February 1818) was a major 18th-century French painter best known for still lifes. She achieved fame and recognition very early in her career, being admitted to the Académie Royale de Peinture e ...

'', 1783 File:N.d. Pierre-Alexandre Wille--Portrait of a Young Boy--Crocker Art Museum--Sacramento.jpg, Pierre-Alexandre Wille (1748-1837), ''Portrait of a Young Boy'' File:Thomas Hill - Sugar Loaf Peak, El Dorado County.jpg, Thomas Hill, ''Sugar Loaf Peak, El Dorado County'', 1865 File:Charles_Christian_Nahl_1871,_The_Rape_Of_The_Sabines_-_The_Invasion.jpg, Charles Christian Nahl, ''The Rape of the Sabines—The Invasion'', 1871 File:E B Crocker by Stephen W Shaw.jpg, Stephen William Shaw, ''E.B. Crocker'', 1872 File:Thomas Hill - Great Canyon of the Sierra, Yosemite.jpg, Thomas Hill, ''Great Canyon of the Sierra, Yosemite'', 1872 File:The Fandango.JPG, Charles Christian Nahl, ''The Fandango'', 1873 File:Albert Bierstadt - A golden summer day near Oakland (1873).jpg,

Albert Bierstadt Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion to paint the scenes. He was no ...

, ''A Golden Summer Day Near Oakland'', 1873 File:Jules Tavernier - Marin Sunset in Back of Petaluma.jpg, Jules Tavernier, ''Marin Sunset in Back of Petaluma'', early 1880s File:Chinese Restaurant by Theodore Wores, 1884.jpg, Theodore Wores, ''Chinese Restaurant'', 1884 File:She Will Come Tomorrow.JPG,

, ''She Will Come Tomorrow'', 1888 File:"In the Artist's Studio", (1889) by Édouard-Antoine Marsal.JPG, Édouard-Antoine Marsal, ''In the Artist's Studio'', 1889 File:After California Rain by William Keith.jpg, William Keith, ''After California Rain'', 1890s File:Strawberry Creek, Berkeley.JPG, Edwin Deakin, ''Strawberry Creek, Berkeley'', 1892 File:Edwin-Deakin-xx-Notre-Dame-Paris-xx-Private-Collection.jpg, Edwin Deakin, ''Notre Dame, Paris'', 1893 File:An Outdoor Portrait of Miss Weir by Childe Hassam, 1909.jpg,

, ''An Outdoor Portrait of Miss Weir'', 1909 File:Cagnes Landscape.JPG,

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French people, French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, fe ...

, ''Cagnes Landscape'', 1910 File:Vision of Saint Francis by Arthur Frank Mathews, 1911.jpg, Arthur Frank Mathews, ''Vision of Saint Francis'', 1911 File:Palace of Fine Arts and the Lagoon.JPG, Edwin Deakin, ''

Palace of Fine Arts The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, originally built for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. Completely rebuilt from 1964 to 197 ...

and the Lagoon'', 1915 File:Cooper, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco.jpg,

Colin Campbell Cooper Colin Campbell Cooper, Jr. (March 8, 1856 – November 6, 1937) was an American Impressionism, American impressionist painter of architectural paintings, especially of skyscrapers in New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago. An avid traveler, he ...

, ''

, San Francisco'', 1916 File:Rose - monterey-cypress.jpg,

, ''Monterey Cypress'', c. 1918 File:'The Beach, Santa Monica' by John Frost, 1921.jpg, Jack Frost, ''The Beach, Santa Monica'', 1921 File:The Oriental Shop by Joseph Kleitsch, 1922.jpg, Joseph Kleitsch, ''The Oriental Shop'', 1922

References

External links

Crocker Art Museum Website

Crocker Art Museum collections—image galleries

Crocker Art Museum Digital Collections Website (defunct)

Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects: The Crocker Art Museum Addition and RenovationCrocker Art Museum
within

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world, operated by Google. It utilizes high-re ...

* {{authority control Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in California California Historical Landmarks Museums in Sacramento, California Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums Art museums and galleries in California Italianate architecture in California Victorian architecture in California Buildings and structures completed in 1871 Art museums and galleries established in 1885 Asian art museums in California 1885 establishments in California National Register of Historic Places in Sacramento, California Crocker family

History

Permanent collections

Californian art and American art

European art

Original collection

Later acquisitions

Works on paper

Asian Art

Ceramics

African and Oceanic art

The Crocker-Kingsley Exhibitions

Museum buildings

Crocker family mansion and art gallery

2010 expansion

Selected collection highlights (chronological)

References

Further reading

External links