On Sunday, I went to the Crocker Art Museum with some folks from Meetup- if you haven’t heard of it, it’s an app for people to meet new people through group activities. On the third Sunday of the month, the museum hosts a “pay what you will” day so we took advantage of that for a visit. Art museums aren’t usually my scene, they make me a bit sleepy and my eyes cross after a while of seeing so many things for hours on end. There was one room at the Crocker though that caught my attention- I didn’t catch the name of the wing, though, I’ll try to get back over there and update this post with that info (and perhaps some better pictures). I was delighted to see a few paintings that aligned with my research. The interpretation was also interestingly done, with the inclusion of the “Look for” section that for some paintings almost made it like an I Spy- much more fun for the person who might not really be an art person but is there anyway.
The image below, “Chinese Restaurant”, can also be viewed online here via Google Arts and Culture.
I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of the title card for the image below, and it’s zoomed in counterpart. It is a scene from 1874 San Francisco, around the area of 500 Sansome St. None of these buildings still stand today, as this area is in the Financial District of San Francisco. I was surprised that Chinese workers were pictured, however they do feature some strongly stereotyped features, particularly in how their eyes are drawn, when compared to the “Chinese Restaurant” image above.
One thing that is interesting in this zoomed in section is the man with the carrying pole or a yeo-ho. In 1870, a law was passed in San Francisco, the “sidewalk ordinance” banning the use of these tools- a law that almost solely impacted Chinese immigrants in the area. The 1870s were a period of economic depression, and there was a spike in laws against various Chinese tools and customs during this time, something called “legislative harassment”. A more complete list of these various laws and even some of the court cases that ruled them unconstitutional can be seen here. It’s interesting that the artist in the painting above depicted the men with a carrying pole while that tool was likely still outlawed at the time.
Overall, a nice Museum, and now that I found out they accept NARM (North America Reciprocal Museum Association) membership cards, I’ll probably head down there again soon to spend some more time in the room these paintings were in and maybe stare at the landscapes a little longer. I do enjoy landscape paintings…
Want to be a NARM and ROAM member too? You might after seeing the staggering list of places that you can get in for free (or cheap) with a NARM and ROAM membership card. California State Train Museum? Sign me up! My “Home Museum” is the Clarke Historical Museum, which offers reciprocal membership on their $100 Patron membership tier- A lot of other museums have reciprocal membership on their $150-$200 or higher membership level, so the Clarke Membership is a good deal if you’re looking for the NARM and ROAM benefit- plus it’s supporting a small local history museum doing some great work in Humboldt County 🙂
Katie Buesch 