The Museum of Comic Art (MoCA) in

Noordwijk Noordwijk () is a town and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water and had a population of in . On 1 January 2019, the f ...

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, is an international

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership, be accessible to all, or have restrictions in place. Although ...

that specializes in original artwork by European and U.S. comic book and newspaper comic artists. Its primary focus are original comic strips and comic book pages by influential artists such as

Winsor McCay Zenas Winsor McCay ( – July 26, 1934) was an American cartoonist and animator. He is best known for the comic strip ''Little Nemo'' (1905–1914; 1924–1927) and the animated film ''Gertie the Dinosaur'' (1914). For contractual reasons, he w ...

, Richard Outcault,

Hergé Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé ( ; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian comic strip artist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of T ...

André Franquin André Franquin (; 3 January 1924 – 5 January 1997) was an influential Belgian comics artist, whose best-known creations are ''Gaston (comics), Gaston'' and ''Marsupilami''. He also produced the ''Spirou et Fantasio'' comic strip from 1946 to ...

Jijé Joseph Gillain (), better known by his pen name Jijé (; 13 January 1914 – 19 June 1980), was a Belgian comics artist, best known for being a seminal artist on the ''Spirou et Fantasio'' strip (and for having introduced the Fantasio character) ...

Peyo Pierre Culliford (; 25 June 1928 – 24 December 1992) was a Belgian comics writer and artist who worked under the pseudonym Peyo (). His best-known works are the comic book series ''The Smurfs'' and '' Johan and Peewit'', in the latter of ...

and

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. There are new exhibitions every summer and winter. The museum opened its first exhibition, ''European Masters of Comic Art for Friends of MoCA'' on November 28, 2020. After the second

COVID-19 lockdown During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions), were implemented in numero ...

around that time, the museum eventually opened its doors to the general public on 9 June 2021. The opening day received a lot of positive attention in the Dutch press. while the renovation was reviewed in De Architect.

History

After the failure of the Strips! museum in Rotterdam and the absorption of the Nederlands Stripmuseum in Groningen to the more contemporary multimedia museum Storyworld, comics historians Ger Apeldoorn and John Asselbergs decided to try and establish a new comics museum near the coast. John Asselbergs had previously organized and curated the Strips in Space exhibition in the Space Expo museum in Noordwijk. They were soon joined by Arie Korbee, an architect who previously designed the cultural centre De Muze in Noordwijk and the Modern Art Museum in

Lisse Lisse () is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland in the Western Netherlands. The municipality, which lies within the Duin- en Bollenstreek, covers an area of of ...

, LAM. He is also a long-standing collector of comic art and has an extensive collection with representative work of all the great Dutch, European and American masters and had a longtime wish to do create a museum from his collection. He offered to buy a doublefronted store in one of Noordwijks busiest shopping areas, which he had designed himself years ago. Korbee redesigned it and used his collection as the basis for a small but high grade museum. MoCA was organised in a foundation on April 16, 2020, to safeguard the financial situation.

Exhibitions

The MoCA only exhibits original comic art, with added information providing the background and a new mural by Dutch comic master

Dick Matena Dick Matena (born 24 April 1943) is a Dutch comics writer and cartoonist. He has also published under the pseudonyms A. den Dooier, John Kelly and Dick Richards. He has made several kinds of comics, from humor comics to erotic comics, but is bes ...

. The museum itself holds only a small amount of pieces, which is why a new exhibition is planned twice a year. After European Masters of Comic, exhibitions were made about 21 innovators of Dutch comics history, 70 years of production for the Dutch Walt Disney magazine Donald Duck and the work and talent from the influential Dutch Toonder Studios. There have also been presentations of new comic books Boekpresentatie Kapitein Rob. undefined itgeverij Personalia (2022, 24 april). “De laatste reis van De Vrijheid”

ideo IDEO () is a design firm, design and consulting firm with offices in the U.S., England, and China. It was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991. The company's 500 staff uses a design thinking approach to design products, services, environmen ...

YouTube

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Sources

{{Reflist

External links

Official website.
Cartooning museums 2020 establishments in the Netherlands Art museums and galleries in the Netherlands Art museums and galleries established in 2020 Dutch comics Museums in South Holland Noordwijk 21st-century architecture in the Netherlands