My Museum Trip: Portraits of Women at the Crocker Art Museum

By Marivir R. Montebon

Sacramento – It was a frenzied and fun step back in time with my high school classmate Angela and Home Economics teacher (yes, Home Economics!) Miss Connie Lepon-Holmes while we were at the Crocker Art Museum here in California’s capital. We remembered and laughed and remembered and laughed at those high school days in dear Colegio dela Inmaculada Concepcion in Cebu, the oldest exclusive girls Catholic school in Asia.

Gracious host Angela, tall Spanish mestiza sweet Cebuana, had asked me days ahead on what things I wanted to see in Sacramento. I replied that I wanted to see a museum here, if that doesn’t bore you. Not at all, Angela said, and so off we three went to Crocker on February 13, 2020, a wonderfully warm winter of 70 degrees.

Crocker Art Museum is the oldest art museum west off Mississippi River. This family mansion was an 1868 legacy of Judge Edwin B. Crocker and developed fully in 1872 by Architect Seth Babson.

Opulent dual spiral staircases at the entrance of the museum lead to the second floor of the museum.

The Oculus on the second floor holds some of its permanent collections, including the colossal Oedipus and Antigone by German painter Franz Dietrich.
A teacher and her two high school students meet at the Crocker Art Museum. What a fun way to remember good old days.

Chatting non-stop at a speed of 300 MPH, we walked through the three stories of the mansion like it was nothing. As we marveled through galleries, we remembered classmates, where they are, how they’ve been, and of course, high school events that were silly and fun being teenagers. There was of course, deep sharing on heart matters: Miss Connie’s husband who passed on in September 2019, my daughter Leani Alnica’s passing on in November 2019, and Angela’s struggles to take care of her aging parents. Still, we managed to laugh, as Filipinos do despite life’s brutal challenges.

Back on the elegant Crocker that sumptuously displayed its art collection, I particularly took notice on its emphasis of women portraits and icons on that tour. Take a look, and enjoy. Museum trips are not only historically enriching, it could be fun when shared with friends whom you haven’t seen in long time.

It is easy to go to the Crocker Art Museum to see all these. It is on 216 O Street, Sacramento, CA 95814

A female ancestor figure revered in yam harvest by Papua New Guine’s Kwoma people. They celebrate the planting, cultivating, and harvesting of yams while displaying these icons.

More icons of women in Papua New Guinea tribes.


Miss Connie, my Home Economics teacher who taught me how to sew bathrobe and pajamas, marvels at The Holy Family, one of Crocker Art’s collection highlights. Also on the gallery is Guercino’s Saint Peter (1650), Louis Jean Francois Lagrenee’s Break of Dawn (1772), and yonder, Il Morazzone’s The Virgin Annunciate (1605-1607).

Painter Anne Vallayer-Costner by Swedish painter Alexander Roslin. Vallayer-Costner was known to be the most prominent female painter in 18th century France who mastered still life and portraiture. She earned an apartment in the Louvre for her skill, beauty and upright character in the French court.

British artist Margaret Sarah Carpenter paints Mrs. William Claxton and her son William Richards Claxton, an 1948 oil on canvas. Here’s to a son distracting his mother’s reading, with the artist portraying details of a smile, a brooch, lace and velvet through exquisite lighting.

An outdoor portrait of Miss Weir by American artist Childe Hassam, heavily investing on Impressionism and often painted people he knew.
Jade Beads. American painter Guy Rose borrows elements from other cultures, in this case, a jade necklace and bracelet, to introduce color and pattern.
In the Studio by Guy Rose. The woman wearing a Chinese robe was a popular subject to depict appearing well-educated and abreast of current trends in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Penelope. Oil on canvas by American painter David Ligare. A contemporary art that merges old and new, “this present-day Penelope waits for her husband Odysseus to return home from the Trojan War.”
The Slave Market, by American artist Eric Pape, this pastel on board illustrated Nathan Gallizier’s The Lotus Woman, published in 1922. The portrait shows “the moment when noble men and women bid at a slave bazaar selling women for harems, entertainment, and servitude.”
The Fandango (1873) by Charles Christian Nahl, a German artist who migrated to New York and then moved to California for the gold rush. The Fandango depicts a couple dancing the fandango, a dance that originated in Spain. The entire painting portrays Californios (or Mexicans living in California) enjoying a fiesta.

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