"Unique Crocker Family Stories Come to Light in Exhibition"

"Unique Crocker Family Stories Come to Light in Exhibition", © Art Daily, September 28, 2009. (News Article)

"A new exhibit at the Crocker Art Museum pays tribute to the Museum’s founders and shares the stories of philanthropy, eccentricity and high style that made the Crockers the epitome of the Gilded Age. Breathtaking jewelry, dramatic gowns, china, furniture, personal letters, paintings and photographs tell the lesser-known side of the Crocker family’s story in Treasures, Curiosities and Secrets: The Crockers and the Gilded Age, opening November 6. ... More than 75 objects will be on display to tell the story of California’s premier early art patrons, Edwin Bryant and Margaret Crocker, and the era in which they lived. The exhibit also encompasses the lives and mementos of their children, including the notorious Aimée Crocker, who became an international social success, receiving widespread press for her dramatic costumes, travels to the Far East, extensive tattoos and five controversial marriages, twice to Russian nobility. Edwin Bryant and Margaret Crocker settled in Sacramento in 1852 and worked as merchants until Edwin was appointed to the California Supreme Court in 1863. Seven months later, Edwin left the bench to serve as legal counsel for the Central Pacific Railroad Company, which ultimately made him a millionaire. ... A paralytic stoke in June 1869 forced Edwin to retire but allowed him and his family to pursue other interests, including commissioning an art gallery ... Overseas for the next three years, the Crockers purchased more than 700 paintings and 1,300 drawings that became the core of their museum ... " [More]

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