Turner Auctions + Appraisals is pleased to present The Applegate Collection, on Saturday, October 21, 2023. Featuring over 120 lots of California Contemporary Art from noted Northern California collector Reed Applegate, the sale includes diverse artworks – paintings, works on paper, mixed media, ceramics, and sculpture – by Bay Area artists.
The auction offers a wide range of artworks from David Gilhooly, including numerous prints, some mixed media, and several sculptures. Other artists represented are Roland Petersen, Avery Palmer, Dan Corbin, Paul Wonner, Mel Romeo, Richard Diebenkorn, Raymond Jennings Saunders, Theophilus Brown, Michael Mulcahy, Tony Natsoulas, and others. The sale also showcases many works by women artists, including Janet Turner, Karen Shapiro, Maija Peeples-Bright, Julie Bozzi, Mary Snowden, Lynn Criswell, Chunhong Chang, and others, plus German artist Käthe Kollwitz. Completing this auction is a very large oil and acrylic painting by Ira Yeager from an East Coast collector.
Turner Auctions + Appraisals begins its online auction on Saturday afternoon, October 21, 2023, at 2:30 pm PDT; sale items are available for preview and bidding now.
About Reed Applegate & His Collection
Harold Reed Applegate (1943-2022) was born in Chico, California, and lived there his entire life, most of it in the house built by his parents. His home was just a short walk to Chico State University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965. There he studied under Professor Janet Turner (1914-1988), a renowned printmaker, whose initial donation of 400 prints in 1976 helped launch the museum at Chico State named in her honor. Although Mr. Applegate was a painter, he kept all his art to himself; his passion lay in the works of others, and he became an avid collector for nearly 60 years.
After graduating from college, Mr. Applegate worked as a graphic designer for various local newspapers. Then, when new resources became available, he became a collector full-time. His focus was on Northern California contemporary art, a geographic area he defined as between San Jose, the Pacific Ocean, and the borders of Nevada and Oregon. In fact, over 90% of his collection was sourced from Bay Area artists. Most of his acquisitions were made through the years at Bay Area art shows, where he became friends with the artists.
Mr. Applegate’s stamp collecting as a boy perhaps foretold the enthusiasms that followed. His later collecting interests began in 1964 as a college student with the acquisition of a Käthe Kollwitz print and continued unabated until he passed away. He was a founding member of the Museum of Northern California Art (monca), donating over 100 works from his collection to help launch the museum. His generosity was shared with other public institutions as well, including sizeable donations to Sacramento’s Crocker Museum and the Janet Turner Print Museum, where the exhibit “Northern California Horizons: The Reed Applegate Collection” is now underway through October 14. According to Museum Curator Dr. Rachel Skokowski in the exhibit catalog, “…After graduating from Chico State in 1965, Reed Applegate was at the epicenter of this exciting artistic moment. He continually looked to new horizons as a collector, taking chances on what were then emerging artists. Today, these artists form a ‘who’s who’ of Northern California art…”
His patronage extended to other areas of the arts as well: he was a longtime and active supporter of the North State Symphony, Chico Community Ballet, and numerous art openings; and endower of scholarships for Chico State studio art students.
Over his lifetime, Mr. Applegate amassed more than 500 works of contemporary art. An avid walker who was frugal, sociable, and with a magnificent eye, he was regular presence at the Janet Turner Print Museum, at Chico State where he volunteered as a print researcher for the Turner Museum, and at his local Starbucks on his walks around town.
Through Reed Applegate’s prescient vision and generous nature, works of art from his vast collection amassed over six decades can be appreciated publicly in museums by all. Now, upcoming at Turner Auctions + Appraisals, fellow enthusiasts of Northern California contemporary art have a rare opportunity to bid on works from his acclaimed collection to enjoy personally at home.
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