SACRAMENTO, CA.- The Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento CA has received a substantial gift of 23 artworks from scholar and collector Gordon W. Bailey. Known for his advocacy of untrained artists, Bailey's thoughtfully curated gift features works by both self-taught and trained artists. All of the artists are new to the Crocker.
“We are honored to join the outstanding institutions that have received donations from Mr. Bailey. It is critical that museums reflect and engage the communities they serve, and Mr. Bailey’s gifts strengthen the Crocker’s ability to do this in an exceptional way," said Agustn Arteaga, PhD, Mort and Marcy Friedman Director & CEO
The Crocker, founded in 1885, is the oldest museum in the West and Bailey complemented the museum’s significant holdings by including California artists Chris Benchetler, David Choe, Ellwood Graham, Michael Massenburg, Samuel Pace, and Belle Yang. Superb works by Alpha Andrews, Eddie Arning, Hope Atkinson, Brenda Davis, Roy Ferdinand, Robert Hamblin, Harry Lieberman, Annie Lucas, Welmon Sharlhorne, Herbert Singleton, and Purvis Young add depth to the Crocker’s collection.
“Agustn is immensely talented. He has a wealth of experience–as a museum director and as a curator,” Bailey said. "His broad multicultural worldview is a great asset to the Crocker’s curatorial team led by Chief Curator Scott Shields with whom I worked closely while organizing the gift.”
Sam Doyle’s masterwork Penn Cane Mill, gifted in honor of artist Kerry James Marshall, a longtime admirer of Doyle, anchors Bailey’s gift. The large two-panel, roofing tin painting pays tribute to St. Helena Island's Penn School (later reorganized as Penn Center), the first school established in the Deep South during the early days of America’s Civil War to provide educational and vocational opportunities to freed people.
Purvis Young, Untitled (shackled men), c. 1990s, mixed media on paper, 29 x 20 in. (73.66 x 50.8 cm), Gift of Gordon W. Bailey in honor of Samuel Pace.
Among the standouts: “Into The Mind” illustrates Benchetler’s inner turmoil during his wife, Kimmy Fasani’s, successful fight against breast cancer; “Messy Hair” an expressive watercolor by the enigmatic Choe; “Monterey” an oil painting of houses on Huckleberry Hill where Graham–a close friend of Cannery Row denizens Bruce Ariss, John Steinbeck, and Doc Ricketts–once resided; the deeply personal portrait “Why The Long Face?” created by South African artist/activist, Hamblin, one of the few works held by an American museum, evidencing the Crocker’s commitment to inclusivity; Massenburg’s spiritual “In God We Love;” Pace’s “Hi-Fi,” a jazz inspired collage; Singleton’s carved wood bas relief featuring his painted words “He Who Do Not See Himself Will Never Be Wise;” Yang’s beautiful watercolor “Lotus In The Rain” with an uplifting insightful message, handwritten verso, from the artist/author (“Baba: A Return To China Upon My Father’s Shoulders”); and Young’s untitled stark black and white drawing of two shackled men working on the chain gang.
"All of Mr. Bailey’s selections challenge institutional frameworks and expand the Crocker’s scope in exciting ways. I am appreciative of Mr. Bailey’s commitment to these artists, both as an advocate and as a scholar, and am extremely grateful that he has entrusted these wonderful works of art to our museum. His gift enables us to share these pieces with audiences from California and beyond,” said Scott A. Shields, PhD, Ted and Melza Barr Chief Curator & Associate Director.
The Crocker Art Museum joins The American Folk Art Museum, California African American Museum (CAAM), Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Georgia Museum of Art, High Museum of Art Atlanta, Intuit Art Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville (MOCA JAX), Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, Palm Springs Art Museum, Prez Art Museum Miami, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and Speed Art Museum as beneficiaries of Bailey’s largesse.
