# Museum of Comic Art

The Museum of Comic Art (MoCA) in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, is an international art museum 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, Richard Outcault, Hergé, André Franquin, Jijé, Peyo and Morris. 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 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, 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. 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 and books about the history of the genre.

## Sources

* ↑ "Stripmuseum in Noordwijk opent in 2021: 'Voor toeristen, maar ook voor echte stripliefhebbers'".
* ↑ Stripschrift #466, pg 18-19: "MoCA, een museum uit liefde voor de strip"
* ↑ "Nieuw stripmuseum opent in het najaar de deuren". 10 July 2020.
* ↑ "Alweer een nieuw stripmuseum?!? | 383".
* ↑ "Winkel in Noordwijk wordt energieneutraal Museum of Comic Art". June 2021.
* ↑ "Alweer een nieuw stripmuseum?!? | 383".
* ↑ "Stripmuseum Rotterdam failliet | Rotterdam" [Comics Museum Rotterdam bankrupt | Rotterdam]. AD.nl (in Dutch). July 27, 2017. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
* ↑ "Museum Storyworld viert het vakmanschap van de verhalenverteller". 11 January 2020.
* ↑ "We mochten alvast binnenkijken bij Stripmuseum Storyworld in het Forum Groningen (★★★★☆)". 9 January 2020.
* ↑ "Comics in Space: Ontdek ruimtevaartsferen op papier in Noordwijk". 7 August 2018.
* ↑ "ARKO Collectie – MoCA".
* ↑ "MoCA Keuzes – MoCA".
* ↑ Boekpresentatie Kapitein Rob. undefined [Uitgeverij Personalia]. (2022, 24 april). “De laatste reis van De Vrijheid” [Video]. YouTube.
* ↑ Kenneth Bestwell (2022b, oktober 9) 60 JAAR PEP video. YouTube