Crocker Art Museum
“Dedicated to promoting an
awareness of and enthusiasm for
human experience through art”, the
Crocker Art Museum has operated
continuously longer than any other
art museum west of the Mississippi
River since its founding in 1885. As
the foremost arts institution in the
Sacramento Valley,
the Crocker serves as the main
regional resource for the study and
appreciation of fine art.
It boasts of an excellent
compilation of early Californian art
with a core collection gifted by
Judge E.B. Crocker of over 14,000
pieces of scenes of early
settlement, Gold Rush era, and turn
of the century Tonalism. The E. B.
Crocker Collection was initially
displayed in 1873. It was one of the
largest personal collections in the
country at that time.
While the Crockers regularly
opened the gallery for public
viewing, it remained a privately
held collection until Margaret
Crocker offered the building as well
as the collection to the City of
Sacramento and California Museum
Association in 1885. A Floral
Festival was held on the day the
gallery and collection were
presented to the people of
Sacramento, a way of thanking
Margaret Crocker for her priceless
gift. The Festival drew an estimated
20,000 visitors from within the
region as well as abroad. |
