Aimée Isabella Crocker was an American mystic, Bohemian, author, and member of the wealthy Crocker family. She was known for her cultural exploration of the Far East, for her extravagant parties in San Francisco, New York and Paris, and her collections of husbands and lovers, adopted children, Buddhas, pearls, tattoos, and snakes.
Crocker circa 1890
Aimée with children Yvonne and Reginald (circa 1905) photo courtesy of Crocker Art Museum
Crocker and Alexander Miskinoff in 1914
Crocker Family Gravesite
Bohemianism is a social and cultural movement that has, at its core, a way of life away from society's conventional norms and expectations. The term originates from the French bohème and spread to the English-speaking world. It was used to describe mid-19th-century non-traditional lifestyles, especially of artists, writers, journalists, musicians, and actors in major European cities.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Bohemian (or Lise the Bohemian), 1868, oil on canvas, Berlin, Germany: Alte Nationalgalerie
Bohemian Grove during the summer Hi-Jinks, circa 1911–1916
An illustration from Henri Murger's 1899 book Bohemian Life.
Former brewery turned artist center in Prenzlauer Berg