My Visit To The Crocker Art Museum

For my art visit, I went to the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento California on a bright and sunny day, April 7th, 2008. Currently (1/26-4/20/2008), the Crocker Art Museum has an exhibition on England born Edwin Deakin. Ok, so the visit itself was probably the first time I’ve attended an actual art gallery and stood back and analyzed the art with a critical eye. This visit was very interesting to me because it definitely helped me gain some perspective on art first off by size. The first question for this assignment asks how viewing art in person is different from viewing and learning about art through a textbook or computer screen. While viewing works through a computer screen or even in a text, I find myself rendering everything as if it may not actually look like that in person. Of course this is something I do subconsciously, but have finally realized that in person works are much larger, usually look much better, and can even carry over and “awe” effect that isn’t as easy through a screen or book. So yes, the size of most painting are rather large when compared to what you may be thinking of while viewing them over a screen or book. Secondly the detail and different angles you can pick up while in person. On a screen or in a book these images are always two dimensional, but in person these are all three-dimensional. Now the Crocker Art museum always seems to have these huge magnificent frames around the works, which sometimes I thought, took away from the art, but these are things that you can’t tell as easily through a picture. I mean the frame on some of the works almost blended in as if it was part of the work itself, or some protruded a bit too much to too far and took away from the piece (this was less common). Other things to point out about learning and viewing art in person rather than out of a text or computer is that in person there is a weird feeling that comes over me. Sometimes it feels weird to know that the artist actually created that work and that you are inches away from it. For instance when I visited the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art I felt a weird feeling when I stood in front of a Picasso or a Warhol…..it’s almost like that person has been in that room before or if you touch it (secretly of course), that you’ve touched something that an infamous artist has touched. Either way this is something that you cannot get out of a textbook or computer screen. Learning about art in person is a fundamental tool of actually analyzing a piece, because often times the piece will look or feel completely different when you actually see it in person. One of my favorite works while on the visit came in the form of a “master sketch”. Now I believe I remember seeing this while in the museum but didn’t record the information, so I found it on Crocker’s website and took my information from there. The work is called “A Roman Landscape” and was created by Johann Heinrich Roos. This work was created with red chalk of traces of graphite on cream laid paper. I was instantly attracted to this work because of uniqueness of the sketch. For me, it is not common to see a sketch done with any color, let alone red for almost the entire thing. Also I really enjoy landscapes when they include appealing architecture. Now in this sketch you have the roman-like columns on the top of a hill that seems to almost disintegrate as the hill flows lower and closer to the viewer. I especially like how it seems as if this is a work in progress. Sometimes I actually enjoy the sketches more than the final product. Why? Because I like to see something evolve over time rather than this is it, it’s done. This sketch looks as if things could be added or taken away and it would still be appealing to me. I also like the way that the shading is conveyed along with the ethic/vintage look the red creates. That’s just me though. This piece is also 19x14in, so not the biggest painting, but certainly bigger than I would think by looking at this on the computer. My reflections on this visit are very positive. I remember going to the Crocker Art Museum as a child in fourth or fifth grade, but haven’t had much recollection on it since then. After visiting for this project, I’ve found that this museum although small, is a gem in Sacramento. I especially like the fact that it doesn’t take all day, but that at the end, the location is prime for getting something to eat and enjoying the day. I also loved the architecture of the building, the vintage mansion look. The color scheme also played off very well for Deakin’s exhibition. I loved the way that he had some landscapes that appeared darker than others, and it really matched the dark greens with the gold accents and the hardwood floors. Things that I didn’t like about the museum were mostly just inconveniences. I wish it had a café’ like the San Francisco Museum of Modern art, and I also wish that there were more exhibits; the Crocker Art Museum is very small. Overall this experience was very fun and rewarding, and finally got me to actually visit a gallery. Most of the time in the past I’ve had the interest of going into a gallery, but never actually done it. This trip was very fun, rewarding and also extremely enjoyable. If you ever get a chance I would highly recommend this.