Museum of Northern California Art (monCA)

The Reed Applegate Collection

Reed Applegate's inspiring collection of Northern California art, the inaugural monca collection, began with a single purchase in 1964. It was a restrike of a Kathe Kollwitz work, “The March of the Weavers.” Over the next several years, another print would occasionally be purchased or an artwork traded with an artist friend.

Chico-based Applegate continued his focus on purchasing from area artists in the mid 1970’s. By the early 1980’s he decided to expand his collecting to include well-known Bay Area and Sacramento artists. Thus the boundaries of his collection were established: the southern border stretched from San Jose across to the Nevada border and the northern boundary reached to the Oregon border. monca continues to pursue this celebration and focus on great art produced in northern California.

The collection has grown to include works of art by over ninety-six artists in a variety of media including paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture and ceramics. The vision of the museum is to extend its collection beyond the Applegate gift, not only in size, but also in breadth to include video art, installation art and conceptual art.