Read about the Photography Collection

The collection spans the history of photography, from the daguerreotype to contemporary practice. Located in Sacramento, the Crocker's history as a museum is intertwined with that of the American West. The collection documents that history with early stereographs commissioned by Edwin Bryant Crocker document the progress of the railroad through the Sierra, one of the largest interventions in environment in American history. The collection today examines the landscape, its use, natural beauty, and place in the American imagination from the 19th century to the present capturing the majesty of the West, as with Carleton E. Watkins, its varied textures, as with Linda Butler, or its changing use, as explored by Lewis Baltz.

Rare prints by Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand, Larry Clark, Bill Owens, Emmet Gowin, and Robert Heinecken exemplify the analytical gaze given American life and culture after 1945. Their vision informed new interpretations of social connection and how photography may shape our perception and understanding of the world around us—underpinnings evident in the 1970s and 80s in images by Olivia Parker, Edmund Teske, John Divola, Jerry Uelsmann, Geoff Winningham, Patrick Nagatani, and Judy Dater, including the iconic images of the World Trade Center created by Wolf von dem Bussche. Recent acquisitions of images by Chris McCaw, Clinton Fein, Geoffrey Fricker, Don Gregorio Antón, and Vesna Pavlovic reveal a diversity of metaphoric, analytical, and political meanings.